Does It Make Me Bad?
by Zegorith
Summary: Grojband goes into Corey's mind to unlock his inspiration for writing lyrics and end up releasing something far more unexpected. Will finding that inspiration be worth it when they discover its source? CoreyxLaney.
1. Chapter 1: Danger - Keep Away

**Disclaimer: I do not own Grojband or any of it's characters**

* * *

**Chapter 1:** Danger – Keep Away

The sound of music rang out of a small house in the occasionally peaceful town of Peaceville. Four friends jammed out in the garage of said house, playing fast and hard rock that shook the windows of houses on the other side of town. Some might find it odd that no one would make a noise complaint to the police. But that would make for a very short story, and not an entertaining one at that.

One last chord rang out from the garage, followed but a loud cheer.

"That was awesome!" the blue haired lead singer/guitarist cheered as he jumped down from the stage, "Just a little more practice and we'll have this song all rapped up!"

"Um, Core, about that" the redheaded bassist and only female member called to him skeptically, "Isn't this supposed to be a sad song? Y'know, not one so energetic or aggressive?"

Corey scoffed jokingly, "Oh silly Lanes. Just because its a SAD song doesn't mean that it has to be 'depressing' or 'gloomy'"

The drummer of the band scratched his head, "Aren't those the same thing?"

"C'mon guys, you just gotta think outside of the box" Corey drew a box in the air and stepped trough it.

The drummer thought deeply (seemingly) on this, "But if we keep our thoughts out of the box won't we lose them?"

"You raise a good point, Kon" Corey, now trying to rethink his strategy.

"Does he?"

"That he does, guy"

Laney sighed, "And aren't we still missing something? Something important? Something that we're always missing and usually have to go on some sort of crazy adventure to find?"

Corey thought about it for several minutes (everyone waited patiently) and broke out into a grin. He suddenly moved towards Laney and drew her into a big hug, "Friendship?"

She was seeing hearts flying around at being embraced by her best friend, and quickly shook it off, "No!"

"Pyrotechnics?"

"No!"

"A motorbike?"

"No!"

"Cheese?"

"No! When was the last time we went on a crazy adventure to find cheese?"

"Last Friday"

Oh. That's right. Laney was still trying desperately to forget about that, "Still no! I'm talking about lyrics, Core!"

"Ooooooh, right, right. Well, we can still get some from Trina whenever she explodes next"

"You can't rely on Trina's diary forever, Core" Laney pointed out, casting a quick glance upstairs to make sure Trina wasn't listening, "With all the meltdowns she goes through on a weekly basis, she might just completely break one day. Then you know what would happen? We'd be screwed!"

"I got it! We can make a purely instrumental song! Who needs lyrics? Not this guy!" Corey grinned at his totally awesome and totally foolproof idea.

This was starting to give Laney a headache, "So we're going to make instrumental songs?"

"Yup yup"

"And are ALL of our songs going to be like that from now on?" Laney led on.

"That's right"

"And that's not going to get super lame after while?"

Corey pouted, finally letting go of Laney after forgetting that he was still holding her, "But writing lyrics is hard!"

"Then don't you think you should come up with some sorta plan?"

Ignoring Laney's question, Corey shouted with a sudden spike of optimism, "I know! All we need to do is think of some sorta plan! Any suggestions Kin? You haven't had an introduction yet"

"Hm? Oh right, the story" Kin put away the magazine he was reading and pretended like he was playing his keyboard the whole time, "Weeeell, we could have Corey sit in a corner by himself until he comes up with something"

"Anything that won't make me go insane?"

Kin pondered shortly, looking for an idea, "We could ALL sit down in a corner by ourselves and help Corey until he comes up with something?"

"Hmm. That sounds slightly less boring"

As the Corey's friends climbed off of the stage, Laney sat on the couch, "Okay let's do this"

Kon ran for the kitchen, shouting "I'll get the root beer!"

Corey sat down on the couch next to Laney, " Are you guys sure about this? I mean, this could get really boring"

Laney laughed, "C'mon Core, we're your friends. We're here whenever you need us"

"Thanks Lanes" he noticed the annoyed look from Kin, " and others"

Kin sat on he table in front of Corey and Laney, "Yeah it's cool. I mean, it's not like its going to us five hours to do this"

* * *

**Exactly 5 hours later~**

* * *

"Uuuuuuugh, I'm sooooooo boooooored"

Exactly five hours have passed since Grojband sat down to cook up the best lyrics ever created by mankind, and so far they've made little to no progress. Playing music while they tried to do it didn't seem to help and they were running out of ideas. And root beer.

By now Kin went back to reading his magazine, Kon had somehow managed to fall asleep while still playing his drums, and Laney was banging her head against the table. All in all, they seemed pretty hopeless. Ah friendship.

Even Corey was beginning to doze off. For the last couple of hours, he could whistle the notes that he wanted to sing for the song, but he just couldn't put words to the sound.

"Lyrics...Have..to...song...sing..."

Kin looked up form his magazine, "So Corey's asleep"

"Does that mean we can finally go home?" Laney asked with her head resting on the table.

"Might as well. Although I don't think Kon is going anywhere"

"No...Lanes...stop it..."

Kin stopped from getting up "Did you hear something?"

"I think so..."

They stopped and listened again, only hearing snoring and Kon's drumming. But as they were about to move again, they were stopped short by the sound of a soft giggle.

"Was that Corey?" Kin looked at the guitarist who was resting his head on the arm of the couch, drooling with a wide grin on his face. Laney had to hold stifle her own giggle at how cute he looked sleeping.

"...No...stop...it's mine..."

"I think he's talking in his sleep" Kin stared curiously at his friend.

"...It's my...banana shake... no...Lanes...I'll share..."

"What did he say?" Laney wasn't sure she hear that right.

"Something about rain on his banana rake?"

"That doesn't make any sense"

"He's dreaming. What do you expect?"

Corey shifted on the couch and the grin dropped from his face, "...We...too...feel alone..."

This made the two even more confused. They moved closer to hear Corey more clearly as he began to speak softly in his sleep.

_We too feel alone_

_That place in my mind_  
_Is that space that you call mine_  
_That place in my mind_  
_Is that space that you call mine_

_Where have I been all this time?_  
_Lost enslaved fatal decline_  
_I've been waiting for this to unfold (Good)_  
_The pieces are only as good as the whole_

_Severed myself from my whole life_  
_Cut out the only thing that was right_  
_What If I never saw you again_  
_I'd die right next to you in the end_

_That place in my mind_  
_Is that space that you call mine_  
_That place in my mind_  
_Is that space that you call mine_

_I won't let you walk away_  
_Without hearing what I have to say_  
_Without hearing what I have to say_  
_Without hearing what I have to say_

Corey's words turned into snoring and silence overtook the garage. Except for the snoring. And the drumming. Okay so it was still pretty noisy that garage.

Kin and Laney could hardly believe what the just heard.

Corey just sang lyrics.

* * *

**A/N:** My god...after going on a 3 year hiatus (long enough to forget my old username and password and had to create a new account) I've actually started writing another fan fiction. And it's for my new favorite cartoon and shipping. I'd like to think that I've improved over the last few years of not writing. I've actually made an outline of the story up to the near end and reread this chapter...three times (My god...typos... typos everywhere!).

This chapter was actually supposed to be a bit longer but I decided that it seemed like a good place to end. And I'm tired. And I felt like uploading it tonight. And 15 hundred words isn't bad. And *insert excuse here*. But all that means is that chapter 2 is gonna be longer then I planned it to be.

This story was inspired by a story by Chris Nest - "Corey Unleashed". Great fic, everyone here go read it. If you already have, then go read it again. There's gonna be quite a few differences between our stories. And a several similarities. But meh, that's unavoidable, really.

The song is "Danger - Keep Away" by Slipknot

Cya guys. I hope you enjoy this story.


	2. Chapter 2: Be My Escape

**Disclaimer: I do not own Grojband or any of its characters. I also do not own any of the songs used in this story.**

* * *

**Chapter 2: Be My Escape**

* * *

"I DID WHAT!?"

"You made lyrics! In your sleep!"

Kin and Laney had rushed to wake Corey just as soon as his lyrics ended. As soon as Corey heard the news he felt as if he would explode from the excitement. After all, this was the first time Corey had ever made good lyrics. If only he was awake at the time so he could know what they were.

"So, what was it like? How did it go? Was it AWESOME!?"

Kin and Laney paused for a moment, looked toward each other, and then shrugged. "I... Don't really remember"

Corey felt his excitement being quickly replaced by disappointment. "What? Why not? You were listening, weren't you?"

Laney groaned awkwardly , "Well, it was really quiet. And we were sorta too... um... surprised and... amazed by it that we didn't actually very listen closely too it"

Corey feel to the ground in disappointment, "Guys, what are we gonna do!? WE can't just let this chance pass us by"

"WILL YOU ROCK-STAR-WANNABE'S SHUT UP!"

It was Corey's pink haired older demon sister shouting at the them from atop the stairs.

"Trina, we're in the middle of something here" Corey glared at his sister.

"As if that matters. I am trying to come up with names for my future children with hunky Nick Mallory and I can't think with all of your shouting!" her bedroom door slammed behind her.

Laney sighed in annoyance, "Her screaming is louder then anything we play"

Corey snickered, "Yeah, and now she's coming up with dream kids? She just gets more and more crazy"

At that moment a sudden stroke of genius came over Kin.

"Dreams! That's it!"

By now Kon had finally woken up from his nap. "That's what, bro?"

"The dream helmets! We can use them to enter Corey's mind and find the dream that had those lyrics!"

Corey hugged his friend in his excitement, "You're a genius, Kin!"

After freeing himself from Corey's hold, he ran over to the pile of junk were they keep more of his inventions, "Okay, okay, just let me find the helmets and we'll get started"

"Uh...Core?"

"Yes, Lanes?"

"The last time we did this sort of thing, didn't we almost destroy your sister head?" he asked, concerned for her best friend's (and secret crush's) safety.

"Yeah, but we fixed it. And besides, this time we're going in MY head. It should be much less of a pain to handle"

"Riiiiiiight" Laney was now more worried then before.

"I got the helmets!"

The two walked over to the couch where Kin was attaching tubes to the four helmets, "It should be ready in just...about...now! Everybody put on your helmets!"

After all the helmets were fastened on, Corey asked "Okay, so now what?"

Kin smirked, "Oh, just relax and leave that to me"

Corey never saw the small electrode that came out of a small opening in Kin's helmet and shocked Corey with (a possibly lethal amount of ) electricity. And all went black.

* * *

**Wicked Dream Transition~**

* * *

Corey rubbed as head as he stood back up, "Ugh, what hit me?

As his vision cam back to him, he looked around seeing his three friends getting on their feet. Corey helped up Laney, "Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah, I think so. Where are...wait..." Laney cut herself off as she realized where they were.

Corey's garage.

"It didn't work? How could it not work!?" Kin was starting to spaz out.

Corey felt the top of his head, "But where did the helmets go?"

"Did they explode?" Kon asked.

"Hey guys" Laney said as she raised the garage door, "you're going to want to see this"

Everything in the garage was perfectly normal. Every plank of wood, every amp chord, every pile of dirt. Outside the garage was a different story.

The town of Peaceville was now made of buildings as tall as mountains, all of them in the shape of musical instruments. Guitars, bass, drums, violins, etc., all with the word "GROJBAND" printed at the top of each building.

"We're not in Peaceville anymore" Laney said as the other stared in awe.

"Ha! It did work! Take THAT all who doubted me!" Kin grinned. Although he was the first one that doubted him.

Corey stepped out of the garage to get a better look of the surrounding, "Okay, we're here. So what do we do now?"

"Now we just have to find the dream that the lyrics were in. I suggest that we split up to find it quicker."

"Good idea. We'll start out by checking those buildings" Corey said and they separated three ways, Corey, Laney, and Kin with Kon.

Corey walked towards the closest building, "This thing sure is tall". After ponder on what that could mean, he reached toward the door and the moment he touch the handle, the world turned white.

His vision slowly came back to him and he realized that he was somewhere new.

"This is... Belchies". Yes. It is definitely the fast food restaurant that he and his friends eat at regularly. But why here? Then...yes, this feels strangely familiar. Like a distant memory that he was just on the verge of being remembered, but couldn't quite do it.

That's when it hit him. This nostalgic feeling. This is a dream.

That's when he heard the sound of laughter. He looked over to one of the stalls and saw Laney. He had almost called out to her when he realized that she was talking to someone else. He got to a better angle to see them and saw that she was talking to Corey. A dream Corey. Which means that Laney was also part of the dream.

Laney was trying to get Corey to share some of the banana milkshake that he got. This scenario vaguely reminded Corey of the time that he and Laney had to fake-date to get that wedding gig. Although Dream-Corey seemed to be enjoying himself far more than I did at that time.

"Alright Lanes, we can share it, just calm down" Dream-Corey pouted, trying to hid his grin. Real-Corey was surprised to see something so... so... what did Laney call it? Oh yeah, 'Romantic'.

And then everything stopped.

There was no movement, no sound. The only one not being effecting was Real-Corey, "I guess... It's over."

With mixed feelings, Corey left the dream.

* * *

**Banana Shakes Are Great~**

* * *

Laney approached her own building. She gazed at the odd building, shaped like a guitar pick.

"Only Core could think of something like this", she said with a smirk.

She walked to the door and grabbed the handle. The moment that her skin touched the metal of the door nob, the world turned black.

Her ears recovered before her eyes did.

She heard music and cheering.

When the fog cleared, she saw that she was at a concert, surrounded by a crowd. She pushed through the mob of music-lovers until she was able to she the band that was playing. It was Grojband.

So this is Core's dream. To have a top-class concert with a stadium full of music-crazed fans. The music was fantastic. Better than anything that they've ever actually played. She grinned at the meaning of it all.

This is what we all want. And I'll do anything and everything to help Core make this dream come true.

After listening to them play for a few more minutes, she made a disturbing discovery. These songs had no lyrics.

She checked, and sure enough, Core's mouth was moving. His mouth was making the vocalizations for words, for lyrics. But no sound came out.

Suddenly, Laney was alone in the crowd. Everyone in the stadium was gone except for Grojband and herself. But they still played as they had before, as if they hadn't noticed that everyone had left. And then even the band started to slowly vanish, until it was only Corey up there playing alone. This wasn't dream.

It was a nightmare.

"Oh Core..."

With a heavy heart, she left the dream.

* * *

**That Dream Was Really Sad~**

* * *

Kin and Kon approached a building shaped like a drum set.

"I wish I had drums this big" Kon said, fantasizing about his dream drums.

"I don't think we have the funding for that" seeing his brother's dejected expression, he continued, "But you can have them in your dreams, you can make them as big as you want! Or even bigger then that!"

Kon wiped his tears, "Thanks Bro"

They reached for the door and grabbed that handle at the same time. Their world turned yellow.

They woke together stood amazed at what they saw. For they was a brand new world.

Made entirely out of cheese.

The ground, the trees, the buildings, even the clouds were made out of cheese. Two motorbikes made of cheese drove up to them with no one driving them.

They took hold of the cheese bikes and asked each other, "Can we live here?"

* * *

**Cheese! Cheese! Cheese-Chee-Cheese! Cheese!**

* * *

Grojband regrouped together on the streets between the buildings. Corey and Laney cast each other strange glances and Kin and Kon where eating cheese, oblivious of the situation.

"So did you guys find anything?" Corey asked.

"No, nothing..."

"Just cheese"

Corey groaned, "Nothing here either. Where else haven't we looked?"

"How about over there?" Kon pointed to a building as he finished off his cheese.

They looked toward the building that he was pointing too. It was the only regularly shaped building here and had a large sign up front that said 'Lyric Factory'.

"How did we miss that?" Laney asked.

Without answering, the band continued on toward the building. Together they grabbed the handles of the door. Their world turned gray.

As their vision cleared they were met with yet another strange sight. They were now outside in a bright sunny meadow with words randomly thrown about on the floor. And then they saw beavers running around frantically trying to put the words together, but there didn't seem to be enough words for them to work with.

"What are they doing?" Kon asked.

Laney was the first to get it, "I think they're making lyrics. Or at least they're trying to"

"Awesome! This is the place!" Corey was beaming, "Now we gotta...do what now?"

Kin thought about it for a moment, "We could see if we could find the problem from the beavers"

"Can they talk?"Corey asked, to which Kin simply shrugged.

So they approached on of the beavers, "Hello? Mr. Beaver?"

"What is it Kid? Can't you see we're busy here?" the beaver replied. Obviously annoyed at the distraction.

"Are you having some kinda problem here?"

The beaver sighed, "Yes, we're having a 'problem', as you can clearly see. We have the beaver-power to make the lyrics, but we aren't being given enough words to make them. They're either in too low of supply or their just the wrong words. At this rate we're not going to reach our quota"

Kin looked puzzled, "Where do you usually get the words from?"

"Most of the time they come outta the book"

Laney leaned in toward Corey, "He must be talking about Trina's diary"

"We're actually supposed to get them from that guy over there," he huffed angrily, "But since he's locked up, he can't do squat to help us"

They looked over to where the beaver mentioned and saw a small cage with several large padlocks holding it closed.

Corey frowned, "Why is he locked up?" but when they looked back toward the beaver, it was already gone.

They cast a confused look to each other and started to move toward the cage. As they got closer they noticed that it was getting colder. The cage was so dark that they couldn't see if anyone was inside. "Hello? Is anyone is there?" Corey shouted.

"Heya"

As their eyes adjusted to the dark, they could see him. In a cage much smaller then any prison cell, sat Corey.

"Another Corey?" Kin and Kon exclaimed.

The other Corey laughed, "More or less" he slowly raised himself to his feet and smiled kindly, "I am your inspiration"

Corey was ecstatic, "Guys! These is even better then finding those dream lyrics! With his help I can write as many song as I want!"

"Dream lyrics?" the Inspiration asked, "Oh, that. Sometimes when you're dreaming is the only chance I get to actually make something"

Laney frowned, "So why are you locked up?"

The Inspiration sighed, "Dunno. I simply always have been. The only one who might know... is Corey"

Everyone looked to Corey, "I have no idea"

Kon jumped up, "So all we have to do is let you out and Corey can make some killer lyrics?"

"That's right"

Kon took hold of the door and pulled as hard as he could. But the door didn't so much as rattle.

"Only Corey can let me out"

Corey reached for the door, but Laney stopped him. "Before that. How do we know you can write lyrics? Show us"

The Inspiration laughed, "Got it, Lanes"

Inspiration cleared his throat and began to sing.

_I've given up on giving up slowly, I'm blending in so  
You won't even know me apart from this whole world that shares my fate  
This one last bullet you mention is my one last shot at redemption  
because I know to live you must give your life away  
And I've been housing all this doubt and insecurity and  
I've been locked inside that house all the while You hold the key  
And I've been dying to get out and that might be the death of me  
And even though, there's no way in knowing where to go, promise I'm going because  
I gotta get outta here  
I'm stuck inside this rut that I fell into by mistake  
I gotta get outta here  
And I'm begging You, I'm begging You, I'm begging You to be my escape._

The words that he sang swirled around them and moved to where the beavers were working, forming a tower.

_I'm giving up on doing this alone now_  
_Cause I've failed and I'm ready to be shown how_  
_He's told me the way and I'm trying to get there_  
_And this life sentence that I'm serving_  
_I admit that I'm every bit deserving_

_But the beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair_

_Cause I've been housing all this doubt and insecurity and_  
_I've been locked inside that house all the while You hold the key_  
_And I've been dying to get out and that might be the death of me_  
_And even though, there's no way in knowing where to go, promise I'm going because_  
_I gotta get outta here_  
_Cause I'm afraid that this complacency is something I can't shake_  
_I gotta get outta here_  
_And I'm begging You, I'm begging You, I'm begging You to be my escape._

_I am a hostage to my own humanity_  
_Self detained and forced to live in this mess I've made_  
_And all I'm asking is for You to do what You can with me_  
_But I can't ask You to give what You already gave_

_Cause I've been housing all this doubt and insecurity and_  
_I've been locked inside that house all the while you hold the key_  
_And I've been dying to get out and that might be the death of me_  
_And even though, there's no way in knowing where to go, promise I'm going because_  
_I've gotta get outta here_  
_I'm stuck inside this rut that I fell into by mistake_  
_I've gotta get outta here_  
_And I'm begging You, I'm begging You, I'm begging_  
_You to be my escape._

_I fought You for so long_  
_I should have let You in_  
_Oh how we regret those things we do_  
_And all I was trying to do was save my own skin_  
_But so were You_

_So were You_

When he finished singing, Kin and Kon cheered, "That was awesome! That was better than anything you got from Trina's diary"

The Inspiration smiled, "Oh, you're making me blush"

Corey felt uneasy, "So what do I do?"

"All you have to do... is open the door" Inspiration spoke slowly.

Corey moved to the door of the cage and hesitated.

This was everything he wanted. Everything the band wanted. If I do this then Grojband will finally be able to make it to the big times. So why...

Why am I so scared?

Corey slowly grabbed the handles of the cage and pulled. The locks broke and the door swung open without resistance.

The world around them washed away into a blur.

* * *

**End Dream Transition~**

* * *

It felt like their heads were swimming. As the regained their senses, they saw that they were back home, with the dream helmets this time. It was now dark outside. They must have been inside Corey's head for several hours.

Laney was the first one up as she took off her helmet, "What happened? Did it work? Core?"

She shook him awake and his eyes opened slowly. When he saw her, he smiled. It wasn't an expression that she had ever seen him use. It looked like he was happy. But a different kind of happy...

"Mornin' Lanes"

"How do you feel?" she asked concerned, "Anything different?"

Corey stretched his arms, "Yeah... Yeah, something is definitely different. Maybe it's my new lyric powers?"

He sounded tired. How now that she thinks about it, she feels exhausted. The twins must feel the same "Sorry Core, but I think we're all too tired out from that little adventure"

"Don't worry about it Lanes. We can try it out tomorrow"

They then woke up the twins and said their good byes.

"Seeya Corey" Kin muttered.

"Later man" Kon yawned.

"Night Core" Laney said as they stepped out of the garage.

Corey smiled, "Night Lanes"

Corey shut the garage door behind them. He stood there for a few moments just looking at the garage and picked up his guitar. He strummed out a single power chord.

A dark grin spread across Corey's face.

"This... is going to be fun"

* * *

**A/N:** Hm... now I know that I said that chapter 2 would be longer than I initially planned for, but...wow, 9 pages, 3.3k words (8 pages if you don't count the lyrics). I could have easily cut it in half and made it 2 chapters. Y'know, If I wanted to be lazy about it. But I'm rather proud of it and I'm glad that I'm finally getting to the good part, so yay.

Song is "Be My Escape" by Relient K

The receptions been good, 3 reviews, 12 favs, and 18 followers (much better from the stories I used to write).

**On a side note:** I realized something odd when I was last watching Grojband which led me to wonder:

If the garage is at Corey's house, then why is he always the last one to show up? And comes into the garage from outside the house? Does everyone just gather at his house when he's not there? Weird.

Cya guys

(Reviews make me smile :) )


	3. Chapter 3: These Walls

**Disclaimer: I do not own Grojband or any of it's characters. I also do not own any of the songs used in this story,**

* * *

**Chapter 3: These Walls**

* * *

_Something missing  
Left behind  
Search in circles  
Every time I try  
I've been here before  
I've seen you before_

_I can't escape winding down these halls_  
_Hard to find a place where there are no walls_  
_And no lines begging me to cross_  
_Only straight ahead better move along_

_Like Clockwork_  
_I commit the crime_  
_I pretend to be_  
_everything they like_  
_I've been here before_  
_I've seen you before_

_And I trade everything for this  
And I trade everything for this  
Why do I read the writing on the wall  
Why do I read the writing on the wall  
I won't lose my place in line  
I've been here too long and I've spent too much time  
I won't lose my place in line  
I've been here too long and I've spent too much time_

_Something missing  
Left behind  
Search in circles  
Every time I try  
I've been here before  
I've seen you before_

_And I trade everything for this  
And I trade everything for this  
Why do I read the writing on the wall  
Why do I read the writing on the wall_

"THANK YOU, PEACVILLE!"

"Core, that was awesome!" Lanes ran up to Corey and gave him a high five, "That's the third song you've written today!"

Sure enough, Grojband has been rocking out all morning playing songs that Corey made up. He could spend a matter of minutes on a song and it would be fifty times better than anything that he wrote using Trina's diary. Needless to say, the band was beyond thrilled.

"Yeah, at this rate we won't have to make up anymore crazy schemes to make Trina go even crazier" Kin grinned.

Corey laughed, "Yeah, now we make her crazy just for the fun of it"

"Maybe we could take it easier on her now?" Kon asked.

Laney shrugged, "I guess the less reasons she has to scream at us, the better"

"She's not going take it any easier on us," Corey scowled, casting a hard glace up towards Trina's bedroom door, "She's just gonna keep on pushing us around until we push back"

* * *

**Wicked Cool Transition~**

* * *

Trina had been on her last nerve since about two hours ago. Corey and his stupid band had been playing all morning with their terrible music. To make it even worse is that now he was always using 'lyrics', if they could be call as much, adding to her suffering.

She wrote away her pains into her diary only for the screeching sound of Corey's wailing reminded her of it all over again.

"Mina!" Trina growled.

"Yes Trina?" Mina asked, suddenly appearing in her doorway, as if she had been behind the door the whole time just waiting until she was summoned.

"Stop that god awful noise! Smash their things, cut their cords, blow a fuse, I don't care! I want to be not hearing any of it three hours ago!"

"Y-yes Trina!" Mina yelped and tried to leave the room to get away from her friends rage. But then...

"Mina... wait a sec"

Something was wrong.

Trina looked at her room. Something seemed off, as if their was a hole in her space that set off her attention. It took her a moment, but then she realized what is was.

One of her most prized possessions was missing.

* * *

**What could it be?~**

* * *

Grojband had just finished playing another song and were now taking a brake. They needed it because with Corey making new songs at such a surprising rate the rest of the band had to work several times harder than before just to keep up. Even if Corey could make a song like it's nothing, the others still had to practice it several times over before they got it right.

Laney sluggishly sat on the couch, "I... am... wiped..."

She was bounced up a little bit as Corey climbed over the back of the couch, landing directing next to her, "Yeah, I can't believe how great this is. A few more days of practice and we might be able to play one of these songs for a gig"

Laney blushed at how close they were sitting, so close that their shoulders were touching, "How do you do it, Core? Even professionals can spend months on just one song"

"It's kind of hard to explain," Corey said, pretending not to notice Laney's reactions, "It's kind of like...talking"

"Talking?" Laney had a hard time believing that it was that simple.

Corey nodded, "Yeah talking. But like... how to say it...songs can be used to display emotion. So I just channel that emotion into the words I use, and BAM! Lyrics"

Laney was completely lost.

"Was that supposed to make sense?"

Corey shrugged, "Making sense is boring" he yawned and scooted away from Laney a bit, only to slump over towards her to where his head rested in her lap.

"Um... Core?" Laney was starting to sweat as her heart raced.

"Yes Lanes?"

"W-what are you... um..."

"Just resting" Corey sighed contently, seemingly oblivious to Laney's predicament.

"Coooorey" Kin called from the other side of the room, "We're going to race paper planes! Wanna join?"

"You know you want to~" Kon chimed in.

Laney was about to stop them, not want them to ruin her moment with Corey, but was cut off by a paper airplane flying past her head going at impossible speeds and imbedded itself into the wall.

"Whoops"

Laney growled at them and was about to tell them off, but she as cut off again. This time by Corey.

"No thanks guys. I just wanna lay here for a while"

They couldn't help but be surprised. Corey was usually the first one to start a race, let alone passing on one. Kin frowned, "You sure man? We got a sheet of paper with your name on it"

"I said no."

There was an edge to Corey's voice. One that none of them had ever heard him use before. Laney was just about to ask him what was wrong when they heard a scream.

"WHERE IS HE!?"

Corey scowled as he looked up toward Trina, flames of rage dancing in her eyes.

"Where is who?"

"You know who!" Grojband had to hold their hands over their ears to partially block out Trina's screeching, "Where is my Mr. Mooseface!"

Corey snorted as he rose his head from its spot on Laney's lap, "Mr. Mooseface? Are you kidding me?

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" Trina growled.

"Aren't you a little... 'old' to still be playing with dolls? Or getting this pissed about them?" Corey ridiculed her calmly. His friends stayed quiet, not really sure of what to do.

Trina's flames burned brighter, "I... am not... in the mood" she as seething, "I've had to listen to that cruddy noise you call music all day! And I've had enough of your groddy band of rocker-wannabe-losers!"

Corey grinned mockingly, "Is that so? And what would you know about music? If you knew how to channel that nasty little temper of your into something a little interesting than a diary then maybe people would actually like you. At this rate Nick will never even want to talk to you"

Corey's eyes matched Trina's. They were all shocked by this, even Trina. Corey and Trina had always fought, but he never responded like this before. He had never been this brutal with her, or anyone for that matter.

Trina's shock soon faded and her rage returned twofold. Not liking where this was going, Laney tried to stand between them to defuse the situation, "H-hey now, let's all just-"

"Shut it, you goth freak!" Trina yelled and pushed Laney out of the way. Hard. Laney fell backwards onto the ground, banging the back of her head on the floor.

"Laney!" Kin and Kon quickly rushed to their friend's side. She was huddled over holding the back of her head tightly, tears streaking her mascara down her face.

BAM!

Kin and Kon looked up at the sudden loud noise. They saw Corey standing in front of Trina with her back against the wall. Corey had punched the wall directly next to her head, lightly grazing her ear.

"Who do you think you are?" Corey spoke between his teeth.

Trina was so caught off guard by these that she couldn't speak. Corey was never this angry. Corey was never this violent.

"ANSWER ME!"

Trina let out a small fearful squeak. But she fought down her fear and stood her ground, "What do you think you're doing!? Dad is going to be SO mad when I tell him about this!"

Corey's face was blank for a moment, as if he was disappointed by her reaction. Then a wicked grin spread across his face as he back off and walked towards the couch, "Oh, Trina, Trina, Trina. Maybe that isn't such a good idea"

Trina was confused by his mocking tone, "What do you mean? If you don't think I'll tell Dad then you're more brain-dead than I thought "

Corey sat on the couch with a smirk, "Well you see, if you did that. Then your little friend might start to worry"

Corey reach between the couch cushions and pulled out a small stuffed moose doll.

"Mr. Mooseface!"

"Yes Mr. Mooseface" Corey smirked as he tugged softly on one of the doll's antlers, "And Mr. Mooseface doesn't want you making this any harder. Because if you do, then Mr. Mooseface will have a lot of things to worry about"

She couldn't believe this! Her little twerp of a brother was taking Mr. Mooseface hostage! He'll pay for this. But...

"Okay... Corey... I won't tell Dad"

He smiled triumphantly, "Good"

I'll get him for this. As soon as I get Mr. Mooseface back...

"Okay, now give him back to me!" Trina pleaded.

Corey pretended to examine the doll, giving another light tug on its antler.

"No"

"...What?" Did he just say 'no'?

"No... I think I'll hold on to him" he grinned as though trying to hold back his laughter, "Y'know... as insurance"

Trina fell into despair, "You... you can't do that!"

"Oh I think I can. And I think I will. Now get out of here"

Not knowing what else to do, Trina ran back into her room.

As soon as she was gone, he turned toward Laney. She was still on the floor crying, just as she had been when Kin and Kon rushed to her side. He quickly move down to Laney, noticing the stares that he was getting from the brothers. They were... confused. Worried. Scared.

Not that it mattered to him.

"Lanes, are you hurt?"

"...C...Core...?" she whimpered. She must have hit the ground harder than he thought. He leaned her up so that he could get a better look at her head. There was definitely a bump and her hair color made it hard to tell if there was blood. But she didn't seem seriously hurt.

Corey sighed in relief and held Laney close to him. She finished crying into his shoulder as he whispered in her ear that it was all okay. She felt him kiss the top of her head to comfort her, and if her head didn't hurt so much she probably would have made a bigger deal out of that.

"C'mon Lanes, I'll get some ice for that and I'll walk you home", he spoke very gently, "Okay?"

Lanes only nodded in response, not really trusting her voice.

"You two should get going too" Corey told the brothers, not really even looking towards them. They still held that same expression, but agreed nonetheless.

* * *

**Corey's acting really weird~**

* * *

Corey walked Laney to the front door of her house as the streetlights began to turn on. The walk over was mostly silent, since she didn't want to talk with her head throbbing.

"Are you gonna be okay, Lanes?"

Holding the icepack to the back of her head, she said "Yeah. Core, it's cool"

He smiled, "Great. Be sure to get some rest, it's been a long day"

He started to walk away, but she called to him.

"Core?"

He stopped and turned back towards her, "What is it?"

"What happened today?"

He knew not to pretend like he didn't know what she was referring to, " She went too far Lanes. She keeps pushing us and wasn't going to stop until we pushed back. So I pushed"

"Even before she pushed me...", she paused, thinking of exactly how she wanted to word this, "I've never seen you like this, Core. I'm worried"

Corey's face became blank, just a few moments before he gave her a gentle smile, "It's okay Lanes, nothing's wrong. I was just... getting so sick of her"

"But still..."

"No worries Lanes. But if you don't get some rest then we're going to have to have Kon play bass tomorrow" he joked.

The thought of the clumsy drummer trying to play a bass, fumbling around with it until he freaked, was a funny thought to her. Corey beamed when he saw Laney laugh.

"That's my favorite rocker girl"

Laney smiled as she closed the door behind her. She was about to get a new icepack when a realization struck her.

"Core just called me a girl"

* * *

**Girl is not a dude~**

* * *

It's dark.

It's cold.

I don't know how long I've been there, or even why I'm here. I sit huddled on the floor, trying to keep whatever warmth I have. The last thing I remember is... is... a dream... the band... beavers...

Where am I?

"Heya"

A voice.

I look up in the direction that I heard the voice come from.

And I saw myself.

"How's the weather in there?" the other me said mockingly, "I'd turn up the thermostat, but well, there isn't one"

"W-who... who are you?" my breath turned to ice in front of me.

"Me? That's an easy one" he grinned, "I'm you"

Then I remembered.

"Y-you are... m-my inspiration"

He laughed, "Yes... and no"

Seeing my confusion, he continued, "I am not your inspiration, but the source of it. That little spark that you've always lack which kept you from writing lyrics"

"W...What do y-you... mean?"

"Well think about it. You always got inspiration from Trina, right? So what is the biggest difference between you and her? Y'know, other than anatomy"

The difference between us?

Could it be...

He laughed again when he saw me figure it out.

Angst.

"I am your hatred, your rage. I am your fear, your sorrow, your scorn!" he was started to yell.

"I am your loneliness! Your guilt! Your contempt! In short..."

He knelt down in front of me to where we were now eye level.

"I am the personification of all your repressed emotions"

I started back at him, "W-why?"

"Why? Simple. I've been stuck here for a long time, and now I think it's my turn to go out and your turn to stay here"

He stood up and started to walk away, "I'll try to not forget about you"

Kin...Kon...

Lanes...

Help me.

* * *

**A/N:** And here I thought that this chapter would be boring. I sure showed me. I got really into it and it ended up almost as long as chapter 2. It took quite some effort to find a song for this chapter, and in the end I wasn't completely satisfied with my choice. But meh, whatev. It's not really an especially significant part of the story. At least not the one for this chapter.

I love you guys. I really do. I got 6 great reviews after submitting chapter 2, a ton of favs and followers, and yesterday I broke 1k views. With 2 chapters! :D

So now you guys know WHAT the 'inspiration' is, but it's still not quite that simple.

This story is inspired by 'Corey Unleashed' by Chris Nest.

Song is 'These Walls' by TRAPT

**And shout-out to reviewer FanFic101Girl: **You ma'am... have given me the best review I've ever had. Never before has a review made this happy. Because you have shown me that you, the readers, are believing EXACTLY what I want you to believe at this point in the story. In what way? Maybe I'll say it as it becomes more apparent.

Cya ppl


	4. Chapter 4: Dead Memories

**Disclaimer: I do not own Grojband or any of its characters. I also do not own any songs used in this story.**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Dead Memories**

* * *

"Hey, hey, Grojbandians! Got some news! Exciting news!"

Corey threw open the garage door, surprising his friends. It has been just over a week since the whole "Corey-dream helmet" incident and they were finally starting to slow down on the lyric-making. They simply ran out of their old music that needed lyrics.

"What's the news Corey?" Kin asked, trying to calm his heart back down.

"I've got us a gig!" Corey grinned, "It's at that carnival that's starting up tomorrow!"

"A carnival? Like the Carnival Derby we played at?" Kon asked.

"Not really. It's more of a carnival and less destruction and random explosions"

Kon frowned at the thought, "Sounds boring"

Corey shrugged, "Yeah, but a gigs a gig, right?"

"How did you get Mayor Mellow to hire us for this?" Laney asked while tuning her bass.

"Oooh, 'hire' is such a strong word", Corey said calmly, "I prefer to think of it as a 'surprise concert'"

Laney groaned, "So we're going to play at a place we weren't invited to?"

"Sounds like something that would get us arrested" Kin added.

"Nah, it's a good sort of surprise." Corey laughed, " And besides, if we sound awesome then everyone will be cool with it, right?"

"Supposing we don't get kicked out right away, I'm guessing you've already made some new lyrics for this thing?"

"That aside," Corey avoided her question, "Where do you think we should play? On top of the 'Drop of Terror' would be cool"

"I'm guessing you've already made some new lyrics for this thing?" Laney repeated herself, "Right, Core?"

"Aw Lanes, you're a real slave driver" he groaned jokingly, "Whatever happened to child labor laws?"

"I"ll let you know the next time we get paid?"

"We get paid?"

"No"

Corey fell to the ground in despair for the money he doesn't make. And now that he thought about it, since this is a 'surprise concert' nobody is going to pay them to see them. In fact they would lose money just to paid admission into the carnival. But at least it was good publicity, right?... right?

* * *

**To the fair transition~**

* * *

The next day the band was in Trina's car just entering the carnival grounds. They had packed up some of their lighter equipment into book bags, since there wouldn't be any equipment already at the carnival for them to use. Everyone but Corey was surprised at how willing Trina was to drive them there, not putting up any sort of fight. She simply agreed and hastily ran to her car, almost as if she were scared of what would happen if she were too slow. She hadn't said one word over the entire car ride, which was a welcome change, but they were starting to worry. Corey, although, didn't pay her any mind.

"So what ride should we go on first?" Corey asked to Laney.

"Aren't we here to play a gig? Not go on carnival rides?" she asked skeptically.

"No reason we can't do both" he laughed.

"Let's go on the bumper cars!" Kon interrupted excitedly, "Oh! And we can get cotton candy, and popcorn!"

"You have money for that?" Laney asked already knowing the answer. As Kon cried to himself about their lack of food money, Corey spoke up.

"No probs. Trina will give us some money for whatever we need" Trina flinched at his proposal, that was money she needed to buy new pink clothes. But any resistance she had was shot down when she saw Corey send her a cold glare.

"Y-yeah... of course. Anything for my dear sweet little brother"

It happened again. One of those odd moments where they see Corey do something so out of character that it left them not knowing how to respond to it. It had happened several times over the past week and it was usually when he was talking to Trina.

They pulled up to the front of the ticket booths and got out. When Corey, the last one out, got out of the car, Trina asked him nervously, "What should I do?"

"Don't care"

After paying for their tickets, the bands looked over the park. "So what first?" Corey asked.

"Kon mentioned bumper cars" Laney replied, to which Corey simply shrugged in indifference as he watched Kin and Kon run excitedly to the bumper cars.

"Sorry kids, only two cars left" the carnival employee told them, not really caring. Kin thought it over and asked, "Can we ride double?"

"Whatever" the employee sighed.

"Awesome! So I'll go with Kon and Corey with Laney"

"Alright!" Kon cheered, "Whoever loses has to buy the cotton candy!"

"So it's us against you and the twenty other people in the arena?" Laney asked.

"Yup"

Corey only just got interested in this and grinned, " Alright Lanes, let's show'em what we got!"

* * *

They were completely destroyed.

Corey watched Kin and Kon with an irritated look as they stood at the cotton candy booth ordering every kind of cotton candy that was there. Which, surprisingly , was more than one.

Apparently Kin had made some 'modifications' to his car. Not sure when he had the time to do that, but it hardly mattered now. Corey groaned, how could he have friends this annoying?

Laney saw her best friend's displeasure, " It's okay Core, we'll get them next time"

He sighed, "I'd rather not get them at all"

"What do you mean?"

Corey ignored her question and stared at the booth where Kin and Kon were ,"They're gonna be there for a while. Why don't we go on some rides while they do their thing?"

"But shouldn't we wait for them?" she asked.

"Aw Lanes, I get the feeling that you don't like hanging out with me" he joked.

"N-no! It's not that! It's just that-" she was cut off as Corey laughed and grabbed her hand.

"Then let's go"

Kin and Kon watched Corey and Laney as they walked out into the crowd. Their third cotton candy was still being made as they devoured their first.

It was strange.

"Has Corey seemed... odd to you lately?" Kin asked his brother.

"Odd how?"

"He doesn't seem to want to do anything with us anymore. He mostly just talks with Laney" Kin explained.

Kon thought it over, "Now that you mention it... he does kind of avoid us. And when he does play games with us, he looks really bored. Even when air plane racing!"

"Not to mention the way he's been acting to Trina"

"Yeah," Kon nodded, "I haven't seen Trina that scared since we broke her mind that one time"

Kin was about to say something, but something that his brother said made him stop. But that's not possible... right?

Dread started to take over Kin as he realized what has happened.

They have to find Corey.

* * *

Corey laughed as he and Laney exited the roller coaster. Laney followed behind him, blushing angrily.

"C'mon Core, get rid of it!"

"No. It's mine. And I've already paid for it so I don't want to throw it away" he held up and overpriced picture that the roller coasters camera took of them as the car dove down at a steep angle. In the seat was Corey grinning happily while Laney clung closely to him in fright.

"Coooore" she growled at him.

He only laughed and tucked the picture away into his wallet, "What? It's a nice picture"

She groaned in defeat, giving up on trying to get the picture back., "So where do you want to go next?"

"I chose the coaster, so you choose what's next"

"Okay. I think I need something a bit calm after that last one." she scanned over the immediate area and her eyes landed on one of the biggest rides there, "How about that one?"

Corey raised his eyebrow when he saw it. The Ferris Wheel.

"I didn't know you were such a romantic"

Laney face turned red, "N-n-no! I just wanted something slow! And besides, if anyone here is a romantic it's-"

Corey noticed what she as about to say, "Oh?"

"Never mind!"

Corey laughed as he watched her storm off towards the ferris wheel. She was just too cute.

They sat across from each other and looked out the window as the ride started.

"Hey Core?"

"Yeah Lanes?"

She had been wondering this for the past few days and now seemed to be the best time to ask, "How come you've been avoiding Kin and Kon?"

Corey frowned. He didn't really want to talk about this. But he put up his best smile, "What do mean? I haven't been avoiding them. They just... just... I don't know. Honestly"

She knew that he was hiding something. They had known each other long enough to make that obvious. She was about to press on when the car shifted to a halt. They had reached the top.

Laney looked out the window where they could see the furthest buildings in the town, "It's hard to believe that all these crazy things have happened here. Monsters, zombies, cyborgs, Trina. From up here, the town looks so normal"

Corey looked at the view that she saw, smiled sadly and whispered, "I wouldn't know what normal is"

She had heard what he said even if he hadn't meant her to. She had never seen him look so lonely. It was as if he believed that outside of this car the world was empty. She couldn't understand it, but she reached over and gently held his hand.

"Core... it's okay" she spoke gently. He looked at her hand placed over his own, and then looked up to her.

He did it again.

It was that look. Corey had been making all sorts of new faces and expressions over the past week, but this one was the strangest. Everything about it was soft. His eyes. His smile. It was a look that rose the butterflies in her stomach and her heart to race.

"Thanks Lanes"

He started to move slowly move toward her. But she would never know what he tried to do as the ride had ended.

"Guess that's it" he said calmly. She couldn't tell what he was thinking, but he seemed almost disappointed.

"Yeah... let's go"

They got off the ride, and tried to decide what to do next.

"What now?" he asked.

"Your turn to choose" she shot back smirking.

"Okay... then how about... that!" he pointed to the tilt-a-whirl.

Laney groaned, "Another fast one, huh?"

He laughed, "Oh don't be such a chicken"

"Um... Core?"

They had been on nearly all the rides by this point and played about half of the games. She's never had this much fun before. And never had so much time with just her and Corey. He's never acted this close before, closer than best friends usually are. She's had this nervous feeling in her gut for a while now, so she had to ask.

"Is this... a... a date?"

Corey almost tripped over his own feet. He smiled a was about to respond when his smile dropped. He suddenly started searching through all o f his pants pockets.

"Aw man, aw man. I think I lost my wallet. It's probably back at the ferris wheel, so just wait right here and I'll go get it"

"Core?"

"I'll be right back!"

And just like that, he was gone. She sighed, it took all her nerve to ask that, and all for nothing. Maybe she was over thinking this. After waiting for several minutes, she felt someone approach her. Core?

"Why hey there!"

It wasn't Core. It was three guys staring at her with fake smiles. They were everything that she hated in people. Fake. Arrogant. Selfish. In short, they were jocks.

After seeing her lack of response, they asked, "Are you here alone?"

"No"

Short, cold, and definite. She didn't want to talk to these guys a second longer than she had to.

The jocks laughed, "So you've been dumped? That sucks"

She ignored them and tried to walk away. But they quickly blocked her path.

"What's the hurry? Why don't you come play with us for a while?" they smiled warmly.

Laney wanted to throw up. They were basically Nick Mallory if he was made out of snakes.

"No"

They frowned, their masks slipping revealing their snake faces, "Come on, it'll be fun"

"I said no!"

They growled. They weren't the kind of people who were used to being rejected. Especially by some chick they found in a carnival. One of them reached out and grabbed her arm, "Come on! Stop being such a loser!"

Laney screamed, "No! Help!"

"Shut up! If you don't I'll have to-"

The jock was suddenly cut short, followed by the sound of a loud thud. Laney opened her eyes and saw the jock that grabbed her on the ground, holding his nose in pain. She looked up and saw Corey standing in front of her.

"Are you okay Lanes?"

"Core..." she was still too scared to speak.

"You little twerp!" the jock on the ground shouted, " I think you broke my nose!"

Corey laughed, "Your welcome. Nose jobs can be expensive, so I saved you the money"

"So you've come to save your little girlfriend?" jock#2 sneered, "I'm going to make you wish you stayed away!"

He suddenly charged at Corey and punched him hard in the shoulder. If Corey hadn't moved to the side then it would have hit him in the face.

"Core!" Lane called. This was getting real bad. She needed to call security. Or the police. Anyone!

The jock laughed after he punched Corey in the shoulder, but was caught of guard when he saw fury in the boy's eyes. Corey grabbed the jocks forearm and pulled him forward. He punched with the other arm meeting with the jocks jaw. Pulling him forward added to the force of the punch, causing the jock to fall to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

"Son of a..." the third jock tried to tackle Corey, but Corey was too fast. He tripped the jock over onto the ground and quickly delivered a ruthless kick to his stomach. He knew not to get back up any time soon.

The jock with the broken nose finally stood back up. He saw his fallen friends and charged at Corey with his fists cocked. Corey roared and met the jock half way, giving the jock a devastating blow the the face. He was completely unconscious. And it somehow fixed his nose.

Laney couldn't believe what she just saw. Corey had never been in a fight before. But here he had just taken out three other guys who were almost twice his size like it was nothing. How?

Only Corey knew that answer.

Rage.

He saw what they did... What they TRIED to do to Lanes. And he used that rage to fight. To numb the pain, to strengthen his blows. He would not let them, not let ANYONE, harm Lanes. Not anymore.

He helped up Laney, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah... yeah. Just a little... shook up" she tried to smile.

And then he held her.

"It's okay. It's over. They won't hurt you anymore" he spoke, his voice shaking. Laney realized that Corey was just as scared as she was. She accepted his hug, and a few moments later the broke away.

"I think security is coming", he looked toward the crowd of onlookers who had watched the whole spectacle, "we should go"

Laney nodded and with their hands joined, they ran out into the crowd..

They rode a few more rides and after about and hour, their good mood was back.

"It's getting late" Laney looked up at the darkening sky, "Shouldn't we be getting back to Kin and Kon?"

Corey pouted, "Aw, but why?"

Laney glared at him, "Wasn't the whole reason we came to to play a gig?"

He groaned, "Alright. But how about just one more ride! Pretty please?"

He put on his cutest puppy-dog eyes and begged her. Laney sighed, "Okay okay, just one more" she looked around the area. This was a new area so they haven't been to any of these rides yet, "So which one?"

"That's a good question..." Corey thought it over for several moment and then snapped his fingers, "That's it! We'll leave it to fate!"

"What do you mean?" Laney asked confused.

Corey grinned and reached into his pocket and pulled out a guitar pick, "I'll throw this in the air and whatever ride it points to is the one we'll go on"

Laney laughed. This was definitely something Corey would do. She watched Corey flick the pick into the air and quickly fell to the ground. They followed the line of direction that the pick pointed to and saw the ride. Corey grinned. Laney almost fainted.

The Tunnel of Love.

"You gotta be kidding me..." Laney muttered. Corey couldn't really be serious about going in there... right? But sure enough, when she looked to Corey he was already almost to the ride's entrance, "Core! What are you... Wait!"

He turned around to face her and asked casually, "What's up?"

"What do you mean 'what's up?'? Are you serious about going in there?"

"Well...yeah. It's what fate decided, right?"

Laney couldn't believe this. She was about to go into a tunnel of love with Corey. Again! Except that this time, he was the one dragging her into it.

The carnival employees helped them into a swan boat and then they were off. It was dark in the tunnel, with just enough light for the passengers to see each other and the soft pink lights of the hearts that danced around the walls. The boat was somewhat thin, to where it forces the two passengers to sit unusually close to each other. They were so close together that Corey had no choice but to put an arm around Laney's shoulders.

It felt like Laney's heart was going to beat out of her cheat. It was so loud what she was sure that Corey could hear it. She was snapped out of her thoughts when she hear him laugh softly.

When he saw her looking at him, he explained, "This reminds me of when we had to go on one of these for that wedding gig"

That's right. Back then Kin and Kon would get in the way and ruin any sort of mood that they may have had. But now it was just the two of them. Alone.

"I'm happy that we're able to do this again" he smiled at her. Again with that soft smile that made her heart turn to mush. Hearing that, Laney was able to work up her courage again and asked,

"Core... is this... a date?"

Corey didn't respond for a moment, only that smile seemed to grow slightly warmer. Then he replied, "If that's how you want to see it... then yes"

Was this really happening? She asked him, "But how do you see it?"

"As a date"

He said it. He admitted it. This whole time he saw this as a date with Laney. Not with his best friend. But with a girl.

Then he leaned in. Their faces slowly drew closer together. They were so close that Laney could feel his breath against her lips. And it was now that they were so close together. So close that she could feel his heart. So close that she could read his very soul.

It was now that she realized the truth.

Suddenly Corey found himself falling back, going backwards into the water.

What happened?

Corey stood up in the waist-high water and saw Laney. She had pushed him into the water. She had pushed him away.

"Lanes, what are you-"

"Who are you?"

Corey stopped when he heard her question.

No...

"Lanes, what are you talking about?" he asked, but she only stared at him angrily.

"You aren't Corey... Who are you?"

No... No...

"Lanes... I don't know what you-" but she interrupted him.

"You look like him. You sound like him. You talk like him. But you are not Corey!"

No. No. No.

"You have his body. But you're... You're his 'inspiration' aren't you!" she was yelling now.

No no no no no no.

"I am Corey!" he shouted.

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!

"What did you do to Corey!" She screamed back at him.

This was it... It's over.

Corey took a deep breath and looked to Laney, "I am Corey. A part of him the he locked away deep inside himself"

That didn't make any sense, she thought, "But... why?"

"There are sides to Corey that even you know. I am the emotions, the feelings, all of the parts of himself that he rejects, all the parts that he pretends isn't there"

She let this information soak in, "So that's what his lyrics were missing... he was rejecting himself"

"That's right!" Corey moved through the water toward Laney, "I don't have that problem! Grojband can be the best band in history with me leading it!"

Laney shook her head, "I want Corey!"

"I AM Corey!"

"I want MY Core!"

Corey stumbled as if her words had struck him physically. His teeth clenched in anger, frustration, envy. "But why..."

Tears ran down his cheeks, "TELL ME WHY!?" he cried out.

"WHY CAN'T I BE THAT COREY!?"

"I'm sorry..." Laney spoke through her tears, " But you aren't the real Corey"

Corey stepped back and screamed. All of his frustrations and all of his fears were coming true. He quickly pulled himself out of the water and ran to the closest emergency exit.

"Core!" Laney called out to him but he didn't slow down. She immediately jumped out of the swan boat and chased after him. She made her way out of the tunnel of love and saw him running through the crowd. She followed him, just close enough to see where he was going but far enough so she couldn't stop him.

Corey ran into one of the attractions and Laney stopped to catch her breath when she reached the small house. She looked up and read the sign. She groaned, "You can't be serious"

It was a house of mirrors.

Laney stepped inside and all was quiet. She passed the various warped mirrors until she saw something move. It came from the mirror maze. "I won't let you get away!"

She slowly stumbled her way through the maze, trying to be careful not to walk straight into a mirror. After a several infuriating minutes of trying to navigate herself through the maze, she realized that she was lost.

And then she saw him. He stared at her in hate, frustration, guilt, and more emotions then she even knew about.

_Sitting in the dark, I can't forget.  
Even now, I realize the time I'll never get.  
Another story of the Bitter Pills of Fate.  
I can't go back again. I can't go back again..._

Laney pushed at the mirrors hoping to find the real Corey. After several tries she found the real one, pushing him backwards onto the floor.

_But you asked me to love you and I did.  
Traded my emotions for a contract to commit  
And when I got away, I only got so far. The Other Me Is Dead.  
I hear his voice inside my head..._

He quickly stood back up and ran deeper into the maze before Laney could stop him.

_We were never alive, and we won't be born again.  
But I'll never survive with Dead Memories in my heart._

Laney chased after him but soon became lost again. Then he reappeared in the mirrors surrounding her.

_You told me to love you and I did. Tied my soul into a knot and got me to submit.  
So when I got away, I only kept my scars. The Other Me Is Gone.  
Now I don't know where I belong..._

She pushed and kicked at the mirrors around her, but nothing. He was not making the same mistake again.

_We were never alive, and we won't be born again.  
But I'll never survive with Dead Memories in my heart._

She ran deeper in the maze in hopes to find him as his images cried out.

_Dead Visions in your Name.  
Dead Fingers in my Veins.  
Dead Memories in my Heart _

Now she was forced to stop. The force of his singing caused the mirrors to rattle until the shattered into pieces, raining glass around her.

_Dead Memories in my Heart  
__Dead Memories in my Heart  
__Dead Memories in my Heart _

The song ended. Laney looked around her and saw nothing but broken mirrors in an otherwise empty room.

"Core!" she cried out, "Core!"

"Laney!"

She spun around to see who had called her. It was Kin and Kon.

"There you are! We've been looking all over for you!" Kin asked her quickly, "What happened?"

They were out of breath and drenched in sweat. Clearly they had been running all over the carnival trying to find her and Core... Core.

"Where is Corey?" Kin shook her in his panic, "We have to find him! Where is he?"

"Core...he..." she cried.

"Core is gone."

* * *

**A/N:** Good god, did I really just do that? 13 pages! 4.6k words! I was tempted to cut it in half and use it as two chapters. But I don't see the sense in holding on to a chapter that I've already finished. I took a bit longer to start writing this cuz I decided to let it sit in my head to see how it could be changed. And I'm glad I did, because otherwise this would have been another chapter with them in the garage.

Since at this point it should be obvious, I'll straight out say that one of Corey's strongest repressed emotions is his love for Laney. So he isn't just a mass of negative emotions. Reviewer TotalGrojbandLover77 used the words 'cute yet scary'...yeah, I like that.

So this is chapter... 4. which means that we're just about over a third of the way through the story. Maybe three fifths of the way. Not a particularly long story but it's not really meant to be super long.

It's funny. Both my reviews and my views DOUBLED after I put out chapter 3. So Yay! I've been loving the feedback.

The song is "Dead Memories" by Slipknot. Probably one of the more appropriate songs that I've used and plan to use.

Okay, that's if for now. Cya everyone!


	5. Chapter 5: Error 404 Song Not Found

**Disclaimer: I do not own Grojband or any of its characters. I also do not own any song used in this story.**

* * *

**Chapter 5: Error 404 Song Not Found**

* * *

It was the next morning after Corey had disappeared from the carnival. Grojband, or what was left of it, was currently sitting in Corey's garage trying to figure out what exactly happened. It was strange being here without Corey, it almost felt empty in that garage.

"What happened to Corey?" Kon was the first one to ask.

Kin sighed as his shoulders sagged, "I'm not entirely sure. I have some guesses, but... I can't be sure unless I talk to him"

"But we don't know where he went!" his brother replied. After Corey had disappeared from the house of mirrors they looked all over the carnival but ended up empty-handed.

"That's the problem" Kin said, "We have to find out where he went, then we can figure out what's wrong with him"

"But where do we start?"

Kin tried to think of some ideas, "We should probably start by asking around to see if anyone's seen him"

Kin sighed in frustration, Corey could be anywhere. He might not even be in Peaceville for all they knew. It was extremely unlikely, but still possible. There wasn't much that they could actually do to find him except look themselves, which could take forever. He looked over to his other friend, "Do you have any ideas, Laney?...Laney?"

Laney was currently laying on the couch facing away from them. She hasn't said so much as a single word since they left the carnival. Kin guessed that's its too be expected. Laney was closer to Corey than both Kin and Kon put together, so it must have been hard for her to see him act so strangely and then just disappear like that.

"Is she going to be okay?" Kon asked his brother.

Kin was silent for a moment, thinking about how to answer that, "Yeah. As long as Corey is still out there, I know she'll look for him"

Kon decided to move back to the matter at hand, "Who do we ask first?"

"I guess we could ask Trina" Kin frowned, "But I don't know what she'd tell us even if she knows anything"

"It's still worth a try, right?" Kon shrugged.

The brothers agreed any walked upstairs to Trina's room. They hadn't seen Trina since she dropped them off at the carnival yesterday, so they hoped that she was here. The only clue that they had was that her care was in the garage so there was a good chance that she was here.

They knocked on the door and was met with silence. After waiting for a minute they knock again, this time harder, and more silence. They knocked a third time and the door was violently thrown open.

"What!?" a harsh feminine(?) voice shouted at them from the doorway, "Oh, it's you losers. I'm busy with something that's, like, actually important. So beat it!"

She tried to slam the door but Kon stopped it with his foot. Ouch. As Kon tried to fight back his pain tears Kin asked Trina, "We just want to ask you something and we'll leave"

Trina sighed in annoyance, "Fine, what is it, you troll?"

Ignoring her remark, Kin asked, "Have you seen Corey?"

Trina stepped back. It seemed as if the mention of Corey's name had caused her to visibly flinch. The arrogance and annoyance in her eyes were instantly replaced by anxiousness and fear. "No... No, why do you ask?"

They were surprised by Trina's attitude doing a complete 180. "We haven't seen him since yesterday and we're getting worried. Please tell us if you know where he is" they begged.

Trina only shook her head. It was obvious by her reaction that she knew something. But she quickly shut the door before they could stop her.

Kin groaned in frustration as they started to walk down the stairs. But a sound caused them to stop.

"He said..." her voice spoke softly from the other side of the door, "That you'd find him soon enough"

Kin and Kon didn't say anything and continued going back downstairs. They were lucky enough just to get that out of her so it seemed obvious that they wouldn't get anything more.

When they got back down they saw that Laney hadn't moved and inch. Kin frowned, Laney always seemed to strong, like nothing could ever faze her as she moved through any problem with her head held high. So seeing her like this, looking so small, was just... painful.

"C'mon Laney, we need your help" he spoke to her gently, "We have to find Corey and we can't do it without you...". A minute had passed without a response, and then...

"He said... He told me that he isn't Corey..."

They had just barely heard her, her voice just short of a whisper.

Kon tilted his head in confusion, "He isn't Corey? Then who is he?"

Laney slowly sat up from the couch. She had been crying at some point, evident by the black streaks that ran down her face, "He said that he is... Corey's repressed emotions. His anger, his fear, his pain..."

"I see" Kin sighed, "That's what I was guessing. When we went into Corey's brain, we unleashed some dark part of himself. So that part of himself took over his body"

Kon tried to make sense of it, "But didn't that other Corey say he was Corey's inspiration?"

"I guess he lied" Kin shrugged.

"So he's like... an evil Corey?" Kon concluded.

"Seems so" Kin replied simply.

Laney didn't respond to that so Kon continued, "So what happened to the real Corey?"

"He's most likely locked up in his own mind like how the evil Corey was"

Kon jumped up, "So what do we do now? Make missing poster? Put his face on milk cartons?"

Kin shook his head, "No. Everyone in Peaceville already knows Corey, so that wouldn't help. All we can do is look around ourselves and ask is anyone's seen him"

They started to walk out of the garage, but turned around, "You coming, Laney?"

"...Yeah"

* * *

They search all over Peaceville, the school, the zoo, the music store, the cheese factory... Okay so the cheese factory was more Kin and Kon taking a break. They spent half the day so far and no one had seen Corey. They were just about to give up when they saw a familiar face.

"Hello Corey's friends. Nick Mallory was just about to grab a smoothie. Would you like to come with?"

It was Nick Mallory, obviously. The teenage heartthrob was always on good terms with Corey so maybe he knew something.

"No thanks, Nick" Kin declined his offer.

"Bummer. Maybe next time then" he started to walk off when Kin stopped him.

"Hey Nick, have you seen Corey anywhere?"

"No, Nick hasn't seen the little Riffen today. Why? Did something happen?"

"He's sorta missing" Kin replied, "We haven't seen him all day and can't find him anywhere. We're getting worried". There was no point in explaining about how Corey was being possessed by his repressed emotions.

"Corey is missing? This is no time for smoothies!" Nick was getting serious in a strange way, "Nick Mallory will do everything he can to find Corey"

All of a sudden, Nick was running down the street at a full sprint, "Nick Mallory will tell you if he finds anything"

Kin scratched his head as he watched Nick disappear around a corner, "And he's off. Weird how serious he was about that"

Kon laughed, "Yeah, but he's a cool guy though"

The keyboard player smiled, "You're right. And at last we have more help now to look for Corey"

* * *

They continued to look around town for Corey for a few more hours. They reluctantly began to call it quits for the day when stars started to appear in the sky. Kon wanted to look around a bit more, so Kin and Laney headed back to the garage.

Laney was still barely speaking, no matter how much Kin and Kon tried to talk to her. She seemed to be preoccupied with her own thoughts as she searched for Corey.

Kin sighed, which he seemed to be doing a lot today. He had been trying to figure out a plan to help Corey once they found him but didn't have anything solid yet. He could use the dream helmets in some way, but the evil Corey wasn't just going to sit there and let them put it on him. They'd have to restrain him somehow...

"So that was useless" Kin tried talking to Laney, "We looked around the entire town and nothing"

Not getting any response, he continued, " But we have to find him and defeat the evil Corey. I just have to get those dream helmets first"

Laney frowned. It was the first reaction she made since they started the search for Corey. She thought as she watched Kin search through his pile of junk...er, inventions for the dream helmets. These were the thoughts that had been plaguing her all day.

It was hard to believe that any part of Corey could be evil. They had known each other since they were little kids and he was the least evil person that she'd ever known. The time they spent together at the carnival flashed through her mind. That look of loneliness he had on the ferris wheel. That smile he gave her on the swan boat. That moment when they were abut to kiss...

How could someone who is supposed to be pure evil do any of those things?

"Hey Kin..."

"Yeah Laney?" he continued to rummage through his inventions, growing frustrated.

"Do you really think... that this new Corey is actually evil?"

He looked up from his pile in surprise, "Of course he's evil! Didn't you see the way he acted yesterday? He ditched me and Kon at the carnival and you saw the way he yelled at you. Besides, he's holding our friend, the real Corey, hostage! Seems pretty evil to me."

Laney wasn't convinced. Could it really be so simple? Before she could say anything else, Kin shouted in frustration.

"It's not here!"

"What's not here?" she asked, surprised by her friend's sudden outburst.

"The dream helmets! They're gone!"

Laney looked at him skeptically, "Gone? How could they be gone? Are you sure you just didn't lose them in that pile. You should really organize those things"

"I have a system, it's organized chaos" Kin replied dejectedly, "They're just gone! But how could..."

"Guys! Hey guys!"

They turned to see Kon entering the garage, completely out of breath, "Guys... hey... hey guys..."

"Bro, calm down! Just take a minute to catch your breath and then tell us what happened." It seemed like Kon had ran here at full speed from the other side of town. Which was surprising because running ten feet is enough to tire out Kon.

"I... I found Corey"

This surprised them even more. Kin held up his brother, "You did!? Where is he?"

"He... He's... You're not... going to like it..."

"Just tell us!" Laney shouted, "Where is Core?"

Despite his friends shouting, Kon managed to catch his breath and he told them what he found.

"Corey is with the Newmans."

* * *

**A/N:** Dun dun DUNNNNN. Corey with the Newmans? This is definitely going to be interesting. I haven't actually decided yet as to how "evil Corey" will act towards the Newmans. I have a few ideas, I just need to pick one. That and I'm going to be writing for characters who've had 0 to 3 lines of dialogue in the show. I assume they act similarly to Grojband... we'll see, I guess.

I know that this chapter is... relatively short. Only 5 pages. But it's really more of a segue into the next part of the story. I promise that the next chapter will be longer than this one. I decided to break the pattern by not having a song this chapter and chose a chapter title that represents that. It also doubles as reflecting the fact that Corey is absent from this chapter as well.

I've noticed that I've been avoiding the use of curse words throughout this story. Not sure why, I just decided not to at some point. There were some points where I thought a cures word would be appropriate but decided against it... weird.

Uuuuh... Can't think of anything else to say. I'm hungry.

Thanks for the reviews and the future review, Cya ppl!


	6. Chapter 6: Fear

**Disclaimer: I do not own Grojband or any of its characters. I also do not own any of the songs used in this story.**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Fear**

* * *

The sound of music rang out of a small house in the occasionally peaceful town of Peaceville. Four friends jammed out in the garage of said house, playing fast and hard rock that shook the windows of houses on the other side of town. Some might find it odd that no one would make a noise complaint to the police. But that would make for a very short story, and not an entertaining one at that.

One last chord rang out from the garage, followed but a loud cheer.

"That was awesome!" the blue haired lead singer/guitarist cheered as he jumped down from the stage, "Just a little more practice and we'll have this song all rapped up!"

"Um, Corey, about that" the redheaded bassist and only other male member called to him sceptically, "Isn't this supposed to be a sad song? Y'know, not one so energetic or aggressive?"

Corey scoffed jokingly, "Oh silly Lenny. Just because it's a SAD song doesn't mean that it has to be 'depressing' or 'gloomy'"

The drummer of the band scratched her head, "Aren't those the same thing?"

"C'mon guys, you just gotta think outside of the box" Corey drew a box in the air and stepped trough it.

Hearing a loud groan, he turned to the corner of the room, "What's up with you?"

Sitting on top of a large amp in the corner was Corey's gender opposite, Carrie. She scowled at him and turned away, saying nothing.

"Keep scowling and you're face will get stuck like that" Corey laughed paying no attention to her lack of response.

"Well if Ms. Pouty over there is too tired out from all her sulking, then we should keep working on the song without her"

Carrie glared at him harder and then sighed in defeat. She grabbed her guitar and join in on the practice. She still couldn't believe any of this. How did this happen?

* * *

**Earlier that day**

* * *

It had been a normal day for the Newmans so far. Breakfast, Practice, some strange debate, practice, a horrible experiment gone wrong, more practice, the occasional explosion. Normal.

"Remind me again why we thought that playing on a stack of TNT boxes was a good idea?" the bassist Lenny coughed as he tried to brush the soot off his clothes.

"Everyone likes explosions" Konnie stated simply, seemingly untouched by the explosions.

"Yeah, but playing on a stage made entirely out of explosives?" he asked.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time" Kim said, black smoke rising from her head.

Laughter sounded and they looked to see it coming from their guitarist. Carrie was laughing as she washed the ash from her face, "It was an awesome idea! There are just a few kinks we need to work out"

Lenny groaned. Sometimes it seemed like he was the only sane one in his group of friends.

"Anyways," Carrie started to walk to what used to be their stage, "Let's hurry up and fix the stage so we can get back to jamming"

Suddenly they all stopped moving. All at the same time, they saw a boy sitting on the floor examining what was left of the stage. They had no idea how long he had been there or how how got there as he hadn't made a sound. They just turned around and he was simply there. He was a boy that they knew well enough and was their most hated nemesis.

Corey Riffen.

They continued to stare at him in a shocked and awkward silence. Minutes passed of this strained silence as Corey continued to examine to stage as if he didn't even know that they were there.

Carrie was the first to overcome her confusion, "What the heck is he doing here?"

Her bandmates shrugged, they had no clue. "Who let him in?" Kim asked, but everyone simply shook their heads, still no one knew.

Frowning, Carrie walked up to Corey, "What do you think you're doing here, Riffen?"

Corey looked up, as if only just now noticing their presence. He suddenly grinned, "Ah Carrie! Just the girl I was wanting to see!"

She glared at him, "Get out of here"

Corey feigned hurt, " Ouch, my heart. It's bleeding. Is this how you treat old friends?"

"No. I treat old friends nicely" she told him coldly.

He laughed, "Then you should change your tone. After all, we're going to be great friends"

For some reason she found that last part very unsettling, and not just because it was Corey who said it. He stood up before she could say anything back and he said, "And friends do favors for each other, right? So that's what I'm here for. A favor"

Carrie had a bad feeling about this but still she asked, "What is it, Riffen?"

"I want to join the Newmans"

Another awkward silence overtook the garage. Carrie stood there stupefied, Lenny lost his footing and fell over, Kim passed out, and Konnie exploded (temporarily). It took several minutes for Carrie's brain to process what he just said, and when it did she burst out laughing.

After laughing for several more minutes she was able to hold it back enough to talk, "Are you an idiot?"

Corey simply smiled at her, "Not at all"

"Does that lame band of yours know about this? Did you finally realize how much better we are than you and decided to jump in on it?" Carrie continued to laugh.

Corey shrugged, "We had a bit of a falling out"

"So now you're asking us to join our band? You must have forgotten your brain in your guitar case if you think we would say yes" Lenny said, finally coming out of his own stupor.

"Ah, but you're wrong there," Corey grinned wickedly, "I wasn't asking"

Carrie took a step back, this wasn't funny anymore. And what was this the expression he had when he said that? She didn't know Corey all that well but she knew enough to know that it was out of character.

She quickly took a step forward to hold her ground, "Get out of here, Riffen"

But he just kept grinning and took his own step forward, "How about we play a game? A contest?"

She gulped loudly, "A contest?" She didn't know why she was suddenly so scared. But the way he kept grinning made him seem like a lion, already having its prey in a corner and would pounce whenever it grew tired of playing with it.

"That's right. If I win then the Newmans are mine"

Carrie shouted, "That's ridiculous! Why would we ever-"

"And if I lose, then I'll break up Grojband. For good."

This stopped Carrie in her tracks. The truth was that they hadn't been getting all that many gigs over the last few months. And the main reason for that was Grojband. She couldn't understand why but people just started like Grojband's music more and more. If this continued then the Newman's would be playing on street corners soon enough.

After a moment, she decided. "What's the contest?"

"Carrie!" her bandmates exclaimed, shocked at the thought that she would even consider this.

Corey explained, "Whoever can play the best song wins. Simple, right?

Carrie grinned toward her friends, "We got this in the bag! It's the four us playing against just him." Her friends shared her confidence and cheered. Now Grojband will finally be out of their way.

"So what do you say?" Corey held out his had to Carrie.

Carrie grinned and took his hand, "You have a deal"

Corey took a seat on Carrie's couch, "So, ladies first"

They scoffed at him as they readied their instruments. They began playing a song that they made for their last gig. It had gotten a fairly good response but that still didn't change the fact that they hadn't had a gig in a long while. The song ended after a couple minutes and they looked to Corey for his response.

"So, what do you think?" Carrie asked smugly.

But they saw Corey banging his head on a table. He looked like he was about to die from boredom, "That was sooooo lame"

The Newmans glared at him but bit back there retorts. Even if it was lame it was still better than anything he could do without a full band. It was hardly even fair, but they weren't complaining, "It's your turn, Riffen"

"Okay, okay, keep your skirt on" Corey grabbed a spare guitar that the Newman's had. He took a deep breath and then started play. The music was fast and hard accompanied by a cruel light that shone in his eyes.

_Fear something again_  
_Huh, huh, huh, huh huh, huh_  
_Fear something again_  
_Huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh_

_Reject_  
_Are you no one_  
_Feel you nothing_  
_You know I'll bet you think_  
_You have a good reason to be living_  
_In the limelight of the fortunate ones_  
_you're too weakened by the poison_  
_That they feed you in the living lie_  
_They don't believe you_  
_Call to no one_  
_Trust in nothing_  
_Little impotent one_

_I don't want to be innocent, you know_  
_I don't want to let them hypnotize me_

_Punk ass, are you listening?_  
_Can you hear me or are you deaf and dumb to my language?_  
_Do the real words seem to hurt you_  
_Well put em' up motherfucker_  
_You'll feel it_  
_When I stamp it on your forehead_  
_So you will never forget_  
_That you're a reject_  
_And you're no one_  
_And you're nothing_  
_Little impotent one_

_Fear awaken_  
_Go with it now_  
_And let it overcome you_  
_Fear awaken_  
_Your mind is racing_

_I don't understand why you don't like me_  
_Why don't you like me?_  
_Am I so different from you_  
_Now does it scare you that I'm able to discern_  
_What to love and what to burn_  
_I'll add your fuel to the fire now_  
_Stand back, brother take your hand back_  
_Leave it and I might crack_  
_More than a smile or two you see_  
_Don't judge what you don't understand_  
_You can't deny what has been given to me_

_Erasing now_

_Hey reject_  
_Are you no one_  
_Feel you nothing_  
_You know I'll bet you think_  
_You have a good reason to be living_  
_In the limelight of the fortunate ones you know_

Still grinning, he looked down onto the Newmans, "So, what do you think?"

* * *

"So, what do you think?"

Carrie was broken out of her thoughts by a voice. She looked down from her spot on the amp and saw Corey, "What?"

"The song we've been practicing. You should really play some. You don't wanna get rustyyyy" he teased her.

"Go away"

Corey sighed at her curt reply, "Are you still hung up about losing?"

"...We didn't lose"

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that"

Carrie groaned. As much as she didn't want to accept it, they were completely obliterated in that contest. They had no idea that Corey could play a song like that. And now with Corey at the head of the Newmans they actually had a chance at a comeback. But this all happened so fast and out of nowhere. It didn't make any sense.

"Why do you even want to be in the Newmans?" she asked him.

"Oh, y'know. Reasons. Dark reasons. MYSTERIOUS reasons!" he exclaimed trying he best to ooze out over dramatic tension.

Carrie raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Why all the mystery?"

"I hear it's what the ladies love" he said, striking his best suave-guy pose.

Carrie nearly fell off the amp when she heard that and stared at him in bewilderment. He held his pose as she stared at him, not moving an inch. Then before she could stop it, her scowl was replaced with a growing smirk.

"You're so weird" she then let out into full blown laughter.

"Life's more fun that way" Corey's laugh joined hers.

Because of their laughing, they never noticed the glare that Corey was getting from the other side of the room. Lenny was leaning against the wall glaring daggers at Corey as Kim and Konnie managed their instruments. Kim looked at Lenny and saw what he was glaring death at, "They're sure getting along, aren't they?"

"Shut up"

"Whoa! What was that?" Konnie asked about Lenny's attitude. Lenny only grumbled to himself and walked away. Kim looked to her sister, "Was it something I said?"

After their laughter died down, she looked to Corey and asked, "So what now?"

He grinned, and not the sinister grin he had earlier, "Now we practice"

Carrie sighed in defeat, "Fine, fine. Newmans regroup!"

The band gathered on the recently rebuilt stage and they noticed that someone was missing. Carrie looked around, "Where's Lenny?"

"He left a minute ago" Kim answered.

"Lenny left practice early?" Carrie frowned, "That's not like him"

Konnie shrugged, "We'll just practice with out him"

Corey groaned, "Jamming without a bass player? This is going to sound weird."

* * *

After several hours of practice and/or goofing off, it finally started to get dark outside. They packed up there instruments and started to say their goodbyes.

"It's been a weird day" Carrie yawned.

"Yeah, but things are looking up. A couple more days and we'll be ready for a gig" Kim said excitedly.

"Maybe if Lenny doesn't ditch again" Konnie stated with an annoyed frown.

Corey shrugged, "I'm sure he'll be fine by tomorrow"

Kim and Konnie walked out of the garage but soon noticed something strange. Corey didn't walk out with them. They looked back to the garage and saw that he was waving goodbye to them. He noticed their stares and lowered his hand, "What?"

Carrie looked at him strangely, "Aren't you...going to, y'know, go home?"

Corey rubbed his head in embarrassment, "Yeeeaaah, about that. I sorta can't go home"

They all frowned when they heard that, "Why not?"

"Oh... personal reasons"

Carrie frowned, afraid of where you this was going, "So... where are you going to stay?"

He broke out into a grin, that dark glint returning to his eyes.

"I'm going to live here at Carrie's house"

* * *

**A/N: **Oooooooh myyyyyyy geeeeerd. I feel brainless right now. I guess that's what happens when I finish this at 1AM after working that night. But I really wanted to finish it tonight sense I've put it off for longer than I meant to. Sorry about that. There were a couple more scenes that I wanted to use, but I can just use them in future chapters. I really wanted to use a Disturbed song for this chapter and while not one of my favorite songs, it still fit the best out of what I could find.

Song is Fear by Disturbed.

You might notice that the first few paragraphs in this chapter is almost verbatim with the start of chapter 1. I just want to say now that that wasn't just me being lazy...okay maybe a little. But there was some symbolism involved!... I'm tired.

I decided to go with a more friendly approach with Corey and the Newmans. One guest reviewer mentioned that Corey HATES the Newmans, which is exactly why 'new Corey' SHOULDN'T hate the Newmans. He was aggressive to them at first, but that's mostly just to establish dominance over them.

Um... what else. In case anyone is wondering, I'm making it a point to not give the 'new Corey' his own name. I feel like giving him a name would give less of a feeling that this is still a part of Corey.

Can you guys tell me what you think about how I'm portraying the characters? I sometimes have this worry that they all have the same personality... And 'New Corey' is meant to be somewhat bipolar.

And lastly I would like to think reviewer Headphones373. I was in a really bad mood today cuz of something that happened at work. Then I got your review making me feel better about my characters and BAM, I'm in a good mood again. Main reason why I finished this chapter tonight. Thanks guy... And of course I did it for all you other readers out there too...I love all of you equally, I swear...

Why does my wall calender say November 2012? D:

….Good night.


	7. Chapter 7: Faint

**Disclaimer: I do not own Grojband or any of it's characters. I also do not own any of the songs used in this story.**

* * *

**Chapter 7: Faint**

* * *

…...

"... Wuh?"

"I said I'll be sleeping here tonight" Corey said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Wuh...but... huh..." Carrie was having trouble putting words together, "...uh... No! Why the would I let you sleep in my house!"

Corey tilted his head to the side, "Well... I joined your band, right?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" she yelled.

"Weeeell, I don't exactly have anywhere else to stay... so... yeah" he still seemed completely calm about all of this, as if it wasn't a big deal at all.

Carrie frowned, "I know this is weird suggestion but you could stay at, oh I don't know, your own house?"

"Can't"

His simple answer caused her brow twitched in frustration, "And why not?"

"...Reasons." he started to walk back into the garage.

"Mysterious reasons?" she sighed.

Corey laughed, the sound frustrating the Newmans further, "That's right"

He turned around, that harsh glint returning to his eyes, "And besides, I don't remember asking for your permission."

The Newmans stepped back out of fear and turned to each other Kim spoke up first, "What are you going to do, Carrie?" Corey gave them a new opportunity, a new chance for them to start out and get back on top. With him they actually had a chance to make it big. And they were actually starting to like him, at least when he wasn't acting like a psychopath. Like right now.

Carrie groaned, "Nothing we can do..."

"But what if he-"

"Kim" Carrie stopped her friend, "I'll be fine"

The two sisters still didn't like it but had no choice but to accept it, "Okay. But if anything happens then call us, got it?"

"Of course"

Kim and Konnie started to leave and then shouted out, "If you try to do anything to Carrie, you'll regret it!"

Corey waved to them, "Um...Kay" That was weird. What would I do to Carrie?

* * *

"So this is the living room, bathroom's down the hall, and fridge is in the next room. Any questions?"

Carrie had just Corey a brief tour of her home. She wasn't too happy about the circumstances and wanted to get it over with. Corey couldn't help but think about how the layout of the house seemed strangely familiar.

"Do you have wifi?"

"Yes, yes" she sighed, "I'll give you the password for it later. But right now I'm tired. I'm going to be-"

She was cut off by the sound of a loud thud. She looked and saw Corey on the floor trying to pick himself up. "Hey! Are you okay?" She moved to help him but he was already getting up.

"I'm fine," he said tiredly, "Just got a little lightheaded all the sudden"

Carrie frowned, still worried, "Are you sure you're okay?"

Corey stretched his arms out, "Yeah, it's been an exhausting day. Mentally"

" I wonder why that would be" Carrie scoffed. She still couldn't believe that he was making her do this...

She walked to her bedroom door then looked to him over her shoulder. Her cheeks were turning red in embarrassment, "Well?... Are you coming?"

He stared at her blankly, "Coming?...What do you mean?"

"You're gonna make me say it?" she growled, her face growing redder, "You're going to sleep here tonight, right?...With me..."

Corey continued to stare at her blankly until what she said had finally sunk in, "Wait...Wuh... bu... What?! No! No no no-no no no-no-no!...No! Why would I do that!?"

"Because that's what you said!" Carrie yelled back at him. Her embarrassment kept her from thinking this over well, "You said you wanted to sleep here!"

"Yeah, but I was thinking on the sofa in the garage! Why would I... You have a sick mind, Carrie Beff!" By now Corey's face was face was just as red as Carrie's.

"Then you should have just said that! You're a boy! What was I supposed to think!" she didn't even know why she was still yelling. But hey, might as well.

"So what! Why would I even want to sleep together with you!" he shouted.

Carrie flinched. Ouch. That actually kinda hurt for some reason.

"Well... Whatever! Do what you want!" she stormed into her room and slammed the door behind her.

Corey sighed, "What's wrong with her?"

In her room, Carrie punched her mattress as hard as she could to let out her frustration. Why did she care? She dodged a bullet with that incident but the way it ended still left a bad taste in her mouth.

"That idiot..."

* * *

"He did what!?"

It was the next morning inside of Carrie's garage and the Newmans had just final member of the Newmans had just arrived. Needless to say Lenny was pissed.

"Who do you think you are staying with Carrie!" the bass player yelled at Corey.

Corey had just walked into the garage with a plate stacked high with pancakes, "What?"

"If you did anything to her, I swear..."

Corey looked from Lenny to Carrie. She seemed like she was trying to remove herself from the situation from sheer force of will alone. "What would I do to her?"

Insert awkward silence here.

"Wha... Aw man. Why do you all jump to that! I didn't do anything!"

Lenny was about to yell back when Carrie cut him off, "Lenny, it's alright. He didn't do anything."

Lenny stared at Carrie in surprise and then went back to glaring at Corey, "I still don't trust you. And what's with that trash over there"

Corey looked to where Lenny pointed and saw a pile of helmets and tubes. The tubes looked like they had been torn apart.

"Don't worry about it"

"Throw it away!" Lenny demanded.

"No!" Corey shouted back. Even broken, he needed those to stay where he could see them.

"Dude, I made pancakes. What more do you want?" Corey sighed.

Before Lenny could day anything he saw that Kim and Konnie were already eating devouring the pancakes, "We trust Corey!"

Konnie looked up from her stack of pancakes and said happily, "Yeah! Anyone who can make pancakes this good is alright by me"

Lenny sighed in defeat. He couldn't believe any of this. All he could do was sit down with his pancakes and continue to glare at Corey.

Carrie walked onto the stage and pick up her guitar, "Alright Newmans, are you ready to start rocking!"

Her words were met with the cheers of her bandmates. They went on to practice for several hours. And it was around lunchtime when the day started to go down the toilet.

"Core!"

Corey's fingers slipped on his guitar when he heard that voice. He looked toward the entrance of the garage and for a moment he stopped thinking.

"Lanes..."

Kin and Kon were there too. Grojband was here to take him back.

"What are you rejects doing here?" Carrie scowled at them. Even if Grojband was in pieces, they were still the Newman's enemy. Corey being the exception.

"We're here for Corey!" Kin met the Newmans glares.

Corey frowned. This is awkward. He wasn't really sure what to do so he did what he wanted.

Laney looked to Corey, "Core, why are you with-"

She was cut off as Corey ran to her and swept her up in a huge hug, "Lanes! It's been waaay too long!"

Laney's face turned beat red as she struggled to get out of his hold, "Core, what are you-... Stop!"

"I've missed you Lanes..." he spoke somberly.

Carrie scowled as she watched to the friends interact. She had the feeling again, the one she had last night. She was caring about something that she doesn't care about...

"Corey is a Newman now. He doesn't need you losers anymore!" Carrie smirked as she insulted Grojband. It seemed that having Corey made her feel superior to them.

Laney finally got away from Corey and she looked him in his eyes, "Core, please, come back with us. We can help you!"

Corey stood silently casting an sorrowful look to Lanes. He spoke in barely a whisper, "No."

"But Core-"

"You don't want to help me. You only want to help _him_." he turned and began walked back to the Newman's stage, "I am not the Corey you know. I am not the Corey you want."

Laney tried to reach him, "We can figure this out! Please, you just have to give us a chance!"

The Newmans were completely lost. What were they talking about? Carrie wasn't sure what they meant, but there was one thing that was clear, "Didn't you hear him? He said he doesn't want you anymore. So beat it!"

"Not without Corey!" Kon yelled.

"If we don't stop him then we'll never see the real Corey ever gain!" Kin said to the Newmans. They still had no idea what that meant.

"Why don't you get it?" Corey growled, "I'm not something you can just brush away and pretend like I was never there! I don't care what happens to _him_! And I will keep on going, keep on moving forward, for as long as it takes for you to understand!"

"Core..." Laney spoke to him softly, "We aren't going to leave you behind"

"No... you aren't. Count us in Konnie."

_I am a little bit of loneliness a little bit of disregard_  
_Handful of complaints but I can't help the fact that everyone can see these scars_  
_I am what I want you to want what I want you to feel_  
_But it's like no matter what I do, I can't convince you, to just believe this is real_  
_So I let go, watching you, turn your back like you always do_  
_Face away and pretend that I'm not_  
_But I'll be here 'cause you're all that I got_

_I can't feel the way I did before_  
_Don't turn your back on me_  
_I won't be ignored_  
_Time won't heal this damage anymore_  
_Don't turn your back on me_  
_I won't be ignored_

_I am a little bit insecure a little unconfident_  
_'Cause you don't understand I do what I can but sometimes I don't make sense_  
_I am what you never wanna say but I've never had a doubt_  
_It's like no matter what I do I can't convince you for once just to hear me out_  
_So I let go watching you turn your back like you always do_  
_Face away and pretend that I'm not_  
_But I'll be here 'cause you're all that I've got_

_I can't feel the way I did before_  
_Don't turn your back on me_  
_I won't be ignored_  
_Time won't heal this damage anymore_  
_Don't turn your back on me_  
_I won't be ignored_

_Now_  
_Hear me out now_  
_You're gonna listen to me, like it or not_  
_Right now_  
_Hear me out now_  
_You're gonna listen to me, like it or not_  
_Right now_

_I can't feel the way I did before_  
_Don't turn your back on me_  
_I won't be ignored_

_I can't feel the way I did before_  
_Don't turn your back on me_  
_I won't be ignored_  
_Time won't heal this damage anymore_  
_Don't turn your back on me_  
_I won't be ignored_

Grojband yelled out in surprise as they were thrown out of the garage, the door slamming shut behind them. The friends slowly stood back up, rubbing their back ends that hit the ground.

"That was awesome!" Kon shouted out in inappropriate glee. He quickly stopped cheering when he saw his friends glaring at him.

Kin looked to Laney, "Did you see that?"

"What?"

"The dream helmets!" Kin explained, "They were in there! They looked wreck but they were there!"

"So Corey took the dream helmets? Why?" Kon asked.

Kin shrugged, "Probably so we couldn't use them to help the real Corey. We need to get those back somehow"

"Can't you just make new ones?" Laney asked absently, as if she were thinking about something else.

"Do you know how expensive those science tubes were? Unless you'll buy the new ones..." Kin said with heavy sarcasm.

"Fine, whatever. We'll get the old ones back somehow."

Kin cheered, "Alright! We'll find a way to get the helmets back and then we can stop this evil Corey!"

Laney frowned. This whole thing was making her frustrated. She still couldn't understand what Corey was feeling. He is Corey's fears, his pains. But what was it that he was afraid of? If they were his enemy then why didn't he leave right away? Why did he stay with them and tried so hard to stay with them when they found out who he really was? She then remembered the dream she saw when she was in his head, of him singing alone. She thought of the song he just sang.

_Face away and pretend that I'm not  
But I'll be here 'cause you're all that I've got_

… Could it be?

Inside the garage Corey stood with the Newmans. He knew that they would ask questions after that whole scene with his friends.

"Corey? What was all that about? Didn't you say that Grojband broke up? Why would they come back for you?" Carrie asked rapidly. Although she was worried about it all, she was somewhat relieved that he decided to stay.

He knew that there was no use lying. And even if they knew the truth and they resented him for it, he wouldn't let them leave him. He still had uses for them. So he told them everything about who and what he is.

Carrie had trouble believing it. It sounded crazy, right? That Corey's mind was taken over by the personification of his repressed emotions? It sounded almost stupid. But it would explain so much. The way he was acting. Why he would leave Grojband and go to the Newmans. She thought it over and came to a decision.

"That doesn't matter. All I care about is that you're a Newman now. You're one of us. And we won't let those so-called friends of yours lay a finger on you" Besides, she likes this new Corey better anyways.

Corey smiled softly, "Thanks."

* * *

Later that night Corey and Carrie sat in her living room watching TV. He was still going to sleep there despite the death threats from Lenny. After the others left, the two of them talked for hours, mostly about stupid stuff. But it was fun. They actually had quite a lot in common, such as their favorite bands, games, foods, etc.

She looked to him and saw that he had started to read a book, "I didn't know you could read"

He laughed sarcastically, "Funny. You're hilarious. Unlike you, I have a reading level above a third-graders"

"That so?" she moved closer to him to see what he was reading, "What is it?"

"It's a book" he winced when she slapped him on the back of the head. He closed the book and showed her the cover.

'Rock Lore'

She recognized that title "Oh, it's that thing that Kim and Konnie treat as bibles"

Corey laughed, "Yeah, Kin and Kon are the same way. It's actually pretty interesting."

Carrie realized something that was bugging her since earlier this afternoon, "If you're Corey's repressed emotions then what do you think of you friends? Even if they won't help you, why just brush them off?"

"With Kin and Kon? Nothing. Corey is pretty open with them. He barely had anything to hide from them, so I don't even feel friendship toward them"

But this is what was bugging her, "But what about the other one? The redhead?"

"Lanes?" he saw her nod and looked back to his book. Without look away from the book he said,

"I love her"

Carrie was taken aback by how blunt he was about it. It was something that she want to know but didn't want to hear. So she asked softly, "And what about us? What do you feel to the Newmans?"

"I respect you. There's not much else"

Carrie frowned. That was more than what she thought he'd say, but she still didn't like it. She didn't get why, but she wondered if she could change that.

* * *

Bored.

I'm really bored.

How long have I been here? Hours? Days? Months?

Nothing ever happens, never changes, so all I can do is think.

I think about my friends. About what they might be doing right now. Is he with them? Is he hurting them?

This fear caused me to get back up and ram the door of my cage again. I've tried this countless times already. No matter how hard I hit it, it never so much as rattled. At least it never hurt when I tried to tackle it down.

BAM!

BAM!

Bam...

Nothing. Still nothing.

I sat back down and wondered why this was happening.

He said he was my repressed emotions. My fear? My anger? Since when have I been any of those things?

…

But there he is. Here I am. So what else could it mean? Am I really some sort of hateful monster? I don't think so. But with everything that's been happening... If everything that he said is true then... maybe.

Maybe I am...

_I can't escape myself  
__So many times I've lied  
But there's still rage inside  
Somebody get me through this nightmare  
I can't control myself_

Crack.

My eyes shot up and looked for what made the loud noise. I looked around for several minutes and I almost missed it. It was so small that it was almost invisible. A small crack on one of the bars of the cage.

I didn't question it, but this sign of progress renewed the energy in my body. I stood up and rammed the cracked bar with all my might.

The bar shattered.

I was free.

I looked around and I recognized this place. It was the part of this mind where he made lyrics. He saw the beavers working busily to construct lyrics with the large words.

What now? How do I get home?

Home...

That's it! I'll leave the same way I arrived! I'll find my garage in my mind and I should be able to leave from there... probably.

I ran out of the lyrics building and continued down the empty streets of my mind. Things looked a little different now. When I came through here before the instrument-shaped buildings all looks new and clean. Now they looked older, cracks running along the walls a if they could collapse at any moment.

I ignored the buildings and continued running as fast as I could.

Then I saw it. It was my house. I started to run faster than I ever thought I could.

Lanes... I'm coming home.

* * *

**A/N:** Jesus...That was a hard chapter to right. It was the first time I couldn't do the whole thing in one sitting. Took me about three sittings to finish it.

I get the feeling that you guys want me to update faster... sorry about that. I like to take a week to just think about it to see if I can come up with any better ideas for the chapter (and I usually do).

So now it should be painfully obvious about how Carrie is starting to feel towards Corey. CoreyxLaney is definitely my fav Grojband pairing, but I've always thought that the idea of CoreyxCarrie was interesting. It seems almost narcissistic to love someone who is basically yourself.

So right now I'm at 42 reviews, 6k views, 38 favs, and 49 alerts... Wow... Have I ever mentioned that I love you guys?

Song is Faint by Linkin Park.

I hope I didn't miss anything... probably did. Hopefully I'll remember whatever it is for the next A/N.

Seeya ppl.

**Edit:** I made small edit to the last scene. I just added a verse from 'Animal I have Become' by Three Days Grace. It was something I wanted to do but simply forgot about. I thought about having him sing the whole song...but...well, plot holes. Also with Carrie's feelings toward Corey... I was really wanting to have her feelings grow steadily over time to make it seem more natural. The problem is that I have to have her feelings set by a certain chapter, so I can draw it out too long.


	8. Chapter 8: Child of Burning Time

**Disclaimer: I do not own Grojband or any of it's characters. I also do not own any of the songs used in this story.**

* * *

**Chapter 8: Child of Burning Time**

* * *

Lanes... I'm coming home.

I ran to the garage as fast as I could. Instead of feeling relief at the sight of the exit I felt only more anxiety. It felt as though the world was falling apart behind me as I ran and if I slowed down for even a second then it would be all over for me.

It felt like it took hours, but I finally got to the garage. I grabbed the handle of the garage door and threw it open. Instead of seeing the inside of the garage, all I saw was a white void in the garage. This is the way out.

I reached forward to touch the portal. All I had to do was touch it. I'll be free again and I can see my friends again. So why?

Why did I stop?

My hand stopped mere inches away from the portal. I'm right there. It's almost over. So why am I so scared?

I thought of Lanes. I thought of my friends. I thought of _him_.

If he really is me and I'm really like that. So angry, so hateful...

Will they still accept me?

I looked to my hand still frozen in place... How could I think like that? Of course they'll... they'll accept me. They're my friends!

They'll know... They'll know that's not how I really am!

I finally found the strength to move my hand forward and everything became a blur. I felt a hand grab the back of my collar and threw me backwards.

My back hit something hard and I fell to the ground. The impact made me groan in reflex. It almost made me laugh, if this was real then that probably would've hurt really bad. I sat back up as my vision returned and looked around.

I was back in the cage... But how? The cage was a mile away from where I was. Well, I guess this is a dream so nothing really has to make sense. I looked up and I noticed two things.

One was that the bars were fixed, so there goes my escape plan. And the second thing I noticed was him. Me... The other me... whatever. He was simply staring at me with a bored look. But somehow I could tell what he was feeling. Hatred. Scorn. Envy. And pity.

"Did you think it would be that easy?"

I didn't answer him. I felt too tired from all of this to respond to him. So I simply continued to look and listen.

"I've spent too long in this cage. Spent too much time alone. And now while I live it up in the real world, I want you to know what it's like." his voiced started to rise to the point of yelling, "What it's like to be the one who's forgotten. I want you to know what you put me though"

He turned to leave and said one more thing, just before he left my field of vision, "But I will give you some advice." He left and his word carried back over to me.

"Forcing yourself to say something is easy. Forcing yourself to mean it is hard."

I slumped over to rest my head on the floor. What was that supposed to mean? I don't get any of this... What am I supposed to do now? I felt the frustration well up in my chest and did the only thing I could.

I screamed.

* * *

"Will you wake up!"

BAM!

"...Ow..."

It was the first thing in the morning and Corey woke up with his face slammed against the floor. He rubbed his bruised head as he sat back on the couch. He looked to the person who woke him up and saw Lenny.

"Are you usually here this early?" Corey asked groggily.

Lenny's brow twitched as he watched Corey pick himself up, "It's 11am"

"... Are you usually here this early?"

"Are you okay?" he heard Carrie ask.

Corey dodged the pillow that Lenny threw at him and saw that the rest of the Newmans were here as well. "Yeah, just bumped my head. Probably lost a couple brain cells but otherwise okay."

Concern shone in Carrie's eyes, "You were groaning and moving around a lot in your sleep. Like you were having a nightmare"

"A nightmare?" Corey frowned. He could could guess what it was about...

"Hey idiot..." Lenny got Corey's attention back.

Corey saw that Lenny was glaring, as per usual, and the girls were looking away seeming to be embarrassed.

"Shouldn't you be getting dressed?"

Oh... right.

It can get hot at night so Corey as a habit of sleeping in only his boxers... This is awkward.

Konnie nudged Lenny jokingly, "You're complaining? You've been staring at him this whole time"

Corey had just started getting dressed, "Ah... wait, what!?" he looked in Lenny in fear.

"I'm not like that!" Lenny shouted.

Corey covered himself as he stared at Lenny in a numb shock, "I should've known... you've been after my body this whole time..."

"Will you just get dressed!" Lenny threw a shoe at Corey, which hit it's mark. Lenny continued to steam as his friends laughed.

Corey rubbed his increasingly injured head, "Geez, okay mom."

After getting dressed, Corey called the Newmans together, "Okay everyone, partial nudity aside, I've got big news!"

"What kind of news?" Lenny asked impatiently.

"The big kind, Lenny" Corey replied sarcastically. He looked to Carrie, "What's wrong with this guy?"

Watching Corey dodge another blunt object being thrown at him, Carrie asked him, "What is it?"

Corey grinned, "Guess."

Kim guessed that he got a new guitar. Konnie guessed that he found a dinosaur. Carrie guessed that he made a new song. Lenny guessed that he found a part of his brain.

"God, Lenny, you're such a prick" Corey laughed, "And you're all wrong!... Well, Carrie is technically right, I do have a new song. But that's not the big news!"

"Tell us already so we can move on with our lives!" Lenny shouted at him.

"I got us a gig"

This took them all by surprise. Carrie was the first to ask, "A gig? Where at?"

"You know that mall that they've been building for the past couple months?", seeing them all nod, Corey continued his explanation, "It's going to be finished in a couple days and we're going to play at the opening!"

This shocked them all again. "How did you manage to get that?"

Corey grinned at Carrie, "Wasn't hard. Mayor Mellow was looking for a band for the opening and well... we're the only band around."

"That's so cool! It's our first gig in a while and it's going to be a big one!" Carrie was overjoyed by his news. So much so that she ran up to Corey and hugged him. It only took her a few seconds for her to realize what she was doing and let go of him awkwardly, "Um...sorry."

Corey laughed it off, "It's cool. Got it Newmans? If we're going to rock that mall in a few days then we're going have to practice nonstop starting now!"

* * *

Two days later the Newmans were packing their instruments in Trina's car. Practice took a bit longer than Corey thought, but hey, they're still ready. After Corey stuffed his guitar into the trunk he turned toward the Newmans, "Alright girls!... And whatever Lenny is. This is our first gig so we have to rock and rock'em hard. You ready?"

Hearing the sounds of his bandmates cheers he laughed, "Then let's go!"

Little did they know that as they drove off, three pairs of eyes were watching them from the bushes.

"Will you move over?"

"I can't! It's a small bush!"

"Then move ba-, Hey! Where do you think you're touching!?"

BAM!

"Uh... guys?"

"What?"

"They already left"

With a loud crash, Grojband fell out from the bushes. They were here on a mission. It didn't take long for them to hear that the Newmans scored a gig and that was their best chance to do this. Kin ran over and threw open the garage door, "Alright everyone, do you know your objectives?"

Laney rolled her eyes, "Yes Kin. You said it a million times already. This isn't some spy mission, we just have to get the dream helmets and get out."

"Way to kill my fun..." Kin started to search around the garage. Him and Laney were looking around the garage for the dream helmets and Kon had lookout duty. Kon snickered, "Ha...duty"

"Focus, Kon" Laney called out to him.

Kin and Laney searched the room for several minutes. They searched high and low but so far hadn't found anything. After a while Laney called out to Kin, "Hey Kin, found anything?"

"Nothing... Hey, Laney, doesn't this garage seem kinda...familiar?"

"Not really" Laney went back to searching as Kin shrugged it off. They searched in silence for so long that they both jump at the sound of the TV turning on. They both turned and saw Kon sitting on the couch watching TV. "Kon... what are you doing?"

"Watching TV" he answered simply.

Laney smacked her forhead in frustration, "You're supposed to be watching out to see if anyone's coming!"

Kon frowned, "But it's sooo boring"

Kin walked over to the sofa and sat down, "Isn't that mall opening supposed to be on the Peaceville news? I wonder if we'll see Corey"

"Weren't we looking for something?" Laney was growing increasingly frustrated at her friends antics.

"Fiiiine, I'll keep looking," Kin groaned, "But... Hey! It's Corey!"

That got Laney's attention, making her sit down on the couch with her two friends, "They're about to play? That was... fast."

* * *

_Child of burning time_  
_The child of burning time_

_My only consolation is all lies_  
_The apex of my consequence is dying here tonight_  
_Winter has returned and it always looks like rain_  
_I cant remember anything...anything_  
_Inside the absolution is to come_  
_And appetites are bittersweet I think I'm coming home_  
_A chance to give up Avarice has marked my one regret_  
_The child of burning time has gone, he hasn't come back, he hasn't come back yet_

_Before I tell my story please consider who I am_  
_I missed my window years ago, I'm doing all I can_  
_A tragedy is commonplace but in the end they go away_  
_A skin is still the only stain I'm left to wear in shame_  
_And I cut my need into my heart, I tear it all apart_  
_I beg you burn me away, I won't become your hero just to fight the life I saved_  
_Burn me away, I won't give up tomorrow just to lose it all today_

_I burn away_  
_I burn away_  
_I burn away_  
_I burn away_

_My isolation is my course_  
_The effect it has on life itself is a cancer on its source_  
_I rue the moments spent between the fetish and the flame_  
_Until this war is over I won't ever lose my rage_

_And I cut my need into my soul, I guess I'll never know_  
_I beg you burn me away, I won't become your hero just to fight the life I saved_  
_Burn me away, I won't give up tomorrow just to lose it all today_

_Burn me away, I wont become your hero just to fight the life I saved_  
_Burn me away, I wont give up tomorrow just to lose it all, lose it all today_

"And without further ado, I announce the new Peaceville mall to be open!" Just as the song finished Mayor Mellow cut the large ribbon barring the entrance of the mall with a comically large pair of scissors. The sound of the ribbon being cut was followed by the cheers of the malls new and first customers and they all rushed in to see the new stores.

Meanwhile the Newmans began packing up their instruments. Carrie couldn't stop cheering, "That was so awesome! Easily the best show we've ever played. The news team was there too! We were on TV!"

"Yeah, that's gonna happen a lot when we're famous." Corey closed his guitar case and as he stood up he was hit with another hug from Carrie...again.

"She's been doing that a lot lately" Konnie whispered to her sister.

"Yeah..." Kim watched Carrie suspiciously as she got embarrassed and let Corey go.

After Carrie recomposed herself, she looked to Corey, "Well, since we're here let's check out some of these stores"

Corey blinked, "Oh...well... have fun with that"

"Nuh-uh! You're coming with me!" she grabbed his arm and started to drag him toward the mall.

"But I don't wanna!"

"Don't care!"

Corey looked to his bandmates for help, "Lenny, you jerk, help me!"

"...No." Lenny sighed, he really can't stand this guy.

* * *

"...Wow."

No matter how many times they heard one of Corey's songs, they always left them speechless. It was as if all of his pain and frustration was put into those songs. Every time they heard one of his songs it felt like they could feel another side of his through that song...But that doesn't matter.

He still has to be stopped.

"C'mon guys, we have to find those helmets" Laney urged them to get back to work.

They searched for a couple more hours until-

"I found it!"

Kin had found the dream machine. It was shoved away in a cabinet that the TV was sitting on. Laney couldn't believe that they had sat in front of it for such a long time without noticing it.

Kin screamed in despair, "It's trashed! Do you know how long it's going to take to fix these tubes!?"

"Don't care. We have to get out of here before-" Laney started towards the door.

"Hey guy! Their car is coming down the street!" Kon called from outside.

"Kin! Let's go!" she dragged him out as he wept of the destruction of his invention. Grojband just had enough time to dive into the bushes as Trina's car pulled into the garage.

"That was painful" Corey groaned as he got out of the car.

"It wasn't that bad." Carrie said as she got out, "You're just being a baby"

"I still can't believe you made me go into the ladies underwear store." he shivered as he recalled it, "I've never been so uncomfortable in my life"

"Cry me a river. They make me do it all the time" Lenny said as he dropped backwards onto the stage.

"Yeah, but Lenny, you're practically a girl yourself. You should right at home there" If Lenny wasn't so tired then he'd probably throw something at him.

After Carrie dragged Corey into the mall, they visited music stores, clothing stores, and an ice cream shop. Other than that they simply walked around and talk about stuff. It was almost a date if it wasn't for the other three Newmans following then from a short distance.

Corey sat on the couch, dropping the bag of CD's and guitar strings that he bought on the floor. He took a deep breathe to relax and let it out.

Wait... What's that smell?

Something's different... Corey took another deep breathe to identify that smell. It was a very subtle smell, almost unnoticeable, that seemed to be vanilla... Perfume? It was coming from the couch. Normally it wouldn't be weird for a girls couch to smell like perfume, but this was different. He was pretty sure that he never noticed this smell from any of the Newmans. In fact, it almost smells like...

He got up and looked in the cabinet under the TV. Empty...

"Hey, Carrie?"

"What's up?" she called back from the other side of the room.

"Did you move that pile of trash I had in this cabinet?"

"No...Why did you put a pile of trash in the cabinet?"

Corey sighed and sat back on the couch. This is happening fast than I hoped.

Hours later the Kim, Konnie, and Lenny went home. Of course not without Lenny shooting a couple more death threats at Corey.

Corey and Carrie talked for few hours after that and then she went to her room to sleep. It was a bit early for that, but it's been a long day. After she left Corey walk to the couch to get some sleep himself.

Then the world went white.

It lasted for several minutes. When it was finally over Corey found himself lying on the floor in an uncomfortable position.

"Corey! Are you okay? I heard a loud noise" He heard Carrie's voice from the other side of the wall.

He slowly stood back up until he found his balance, "Yeah, I'm fine"

"Are you sure?" her voiced sounded concerned.

"Yeah, don't worry about it. I'm fine" he finally made it to the couch and laid down. This was starting to happen more and more often. And he knew exactly why.

The longer he has control of Corey's body, the more the original Corey is forced to acknowledge him. This makes his hold over Corey grow gradually weaker by the day.

"I'm running out of time" he grabbed his book from under the couch and stared at it's cover. Rock Lore.

This is the only way. The only way that I can keep on going without them... without anyone...

His fists clenched in his frustration. This isn't what he wants. It's simply his only choice.

I will not be ignored.

I will not be forgotten.

I will not disappear.

…

Not again.

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry about the wait. I mostly blame Civilization 5, a game where minutes turn to hours if you don't set an alarm.

I'm not completely happy with this chapter... I wanted to throw in a couple more scenes like Corey shopping with Carrie instead of just describing it in a paragraph. But at the same time I don't really want to drag this on for longer then it needs to.

Some reviewers have been asking if this is now a CoreyxCarrie story or still a CoreyxLaney one... That's really hard to explain without spoilers. At this point in the story let's consider it both. I really like Carrie in the way that I've portrayed her.

Song is 'Child of Burning Time' by Slipknot.

I really want to use 'Alone I Break' by Korn, but... I have no idea where I'd put it...hm... also I had a neat idea that is far too late to use, which was to have the 'other Corey' not know how to make the instrument parts of the songs. So then they'd just have the complete opposite problems... well, too late now.

I'll try to update faster, but I'm sort of taking my time with this. I do have a time limit though, which is November 16. Then I'll be off to Texas to be trained for the US Air Force. But I should be finished with this long before then.

On a side note, I'd really like to read a good CoreyxLaneyxCarrie love triangle story. One that's sort of a romantic comedy kinda then where they fight over his affection. I think it'd be cute.


End file.
